Ultrastructural cytochemistry of complex carbohydrates of gastric epithelium in the guinea pig.

Ultrastructural and complex-carbohydrate cytochemical studies were carried out on guinea pig gastric mucosa to assess the histochemical properties of the secretions of different gastric epithelial cells and to investigate the differentiation, origin, and renewal of certain cell types. The observations disclosed heterogeneity or variability of the secretory granules within individual mucigenic cells and zymogen cells. The cytochemical methods also served in characterizing and distinguishing five cell types in the gastric glands, including the isthmus cell, a mucous cell considered comparable to the mucous neck cell, the chief cell, and forms transitional between the isthmus and mucous cells and the mucous and zymogenic cells. The several cell types differed widely in the cytochemical properties of the secretory granules and of the apical plasmalemma, and each had a distinctive distribution in the gastric gland. Cytochemical staining observed here provided evidence on synthesis and intracellular metamorphosis of mucous droplets and on formation of glycocalyx.