Pepsinogen and H,K-ATPase mediate acid secretion in gastric glands of Triturus carnifex (Amphibia, Caudata).

The gastric glands of Triturus carnifex (Amphibia, Caudata) have been examined by histochemical and immunohistochemical methods with particular regard to hydrochloric acid and pepsinogen secretion. Fundic glands consist of mucous neck cells, endocrine cells and oxynticopeptic cells producing both pepsinogen and hydrochloric acid. The neck cells showed an unexpected distribution pattern which was only observed in the oral fundus, and produced neutral mucins with glycosidic residues of GalNAc and Gal beta1,3GalNAc, and in this respect they differ from the neck cells of anuran amphibians. The secretion of pepsinogen and hydrochloric acid as demonstrated by immunolabelling with anti-H,K-ATPase and with anti-pepsinogen, respectively, seems not to vary significantly along the longitudinal axis of the stomach. The mechanism of gastric acid secretion seems to be mediated by an ATPase, having similar features to the mammalian gastric H,K-ATPase, and is localised in the luminal membrane and in the subapical cytoplasm of the oxynticopeptic cells. Unusually, the same cytoplasmic areas revealed binding specificity for the winged pea lectin (WPA) from Lotus tetragonolobus, even after beta elimination, indicating the presence of fucosyl residues in N-linked oligosaccharidic chains in glycoproteins of beta-H,K-ATPase subunits.