Summary
Attempts have been made to develop a procedure for preserving and analysing the surface mucous layer of the human stomach in paraffin sections. Histologically normal gastric mucosae were obtained from 20 surgically removed stomachs. Of the different fixatives tested, Carnoy's solution gave rise to the most satisfactory results. In Haematoxylin-Eosin stained sections, the surface mucous layer appeared as a thick eosinophilic layer coating the gastric mucosal surface and measured 55.4±2.5 μm in the fundus and 21.8±1.0 μm in the pylorus respectively. A dual staining method consisting of galactose oxidase-cold thionine Schiff and paradoxical concanavalin A staining was applied to the surface mucous layer in order to reveal the distribution pattern of mucins secreted by two types of mucous cell in the gastric mucosa: surface mucous cells and gland mucous cells. As a result of this staining, an alternating laminated layer was visualized which consisted of the particular two types of mucin. In five cases, the surface mucous layer was examined in unfixed frozen sections. This layer was only partially preserved but revealed the same laminated structure. These results indicated that gland mucous cell mucins contribute to form the surface mucous layer.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Allen, A. (1989) Gastrointestinal mucus. InHandbook of Physiology. The Gastrointestinal System, Vol III,Salivary, Gastric, Pancreatic and Hepatobiliary Secretion (edited byRauner, B. B.) pp. 359–82. American Physiological Society. New York: Oxford University Press.
Allen, A. &Carroll, N. J. H. (1985) Adherent and soluble mucus in the stomach and duodenum.Dig. Dis. Sci. (suppl. 30), 55S-62S.
Allen, A., Hutton, D. A., Pearson, J. P. &Sellers, L. A. (1984) Mucus glycoprotein structure, gel formation and gastrointestinal mucus function. InMucus and Mucosa (Ciba Foundation Symposia 109) pp. 137–156. London: Pitman.
Allen, A., Hutton, D. A., Leonard, A. J., Person, J. P. &Sellers, L. A. (1986) The role of mucus in the protection of the gastroduodenal mucosa.Scand. J. Gastroenterol. (suppl. 125), 71–7.
Allen, A., Seller, L. A. &Bennett, M. K. (1987) The gastric mucosal epithelial barrier: role of mucus and fibrin.Scand. J. Gastroenterol. (suppl 128), 6–13.
Babkin, B. P. (1950)Secretory Mechanism of the Digestive Glands. 2nd edn. New York: Hoeber.
Bell, A. E., Allen, A., Morris, E. R. &Rees, D. A. (1982) Rheological studies on native pig gastric mucus gel.Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 144, 97–9.
Glass, G. B. J. (1953) Gastric mucin and its constituents: physico-chemical characteristics, cellular origin, and physiological significance.Gastroenterol. 23, 636–58.
Ihida, K., Suganuma, T., Tsuyama, S. &Murata, F. (1988) Glycoconjugate histochemistry of the rat fundic gland usingGriffonia simplicifolia aggulutinin-II during the development.Am. J. Anat. 182, 250–6.
Iida, F. (1976) Mucous barrier and peptic ulcer of the stomach.Gastroenterogia Japonica,11, 175–81.
Katsuyama, T. &Spicer, S. S. (1978) Histochemical differentiation of complex carbohydrate with variants of the concanavalin A-horseradish peroxidase method.J. Histochem. Cytochem. 26, 233–50.
Katsuyama, T., Ono, K., Nakayama, J. &Kanai, M. (1985) Recent advances in mucosubstance histochemistry. InGastric Mucous and Mucous Secreting Cells (edited byKawai, K.) pp. 3–18. Tokyo: Excerpta Medica.
Katsuyama, T., Ota, H., Ishi, K., Nakayama, J., Kanai, M., Akamatsu, T. &Sugiyama, A. (1991) InGastrointestinal Function. Regulation and Disturbances, Vol. 9, (edited byKasuya, Y. et al.) pp. 145–65. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica (in press).
Kerss, S., Allen, A. &Garner, A. (1982) A simple method for measuring thickness of the mucus gel layer adherent to rat, frog and human gastric mucosa: influence of feeding, prostaglandin,N-acetylcysteine and other agents.Clin. Sci. 63, 187–95.
Morris, G. P., Harding, R. K. &Wallace, J. L. (1984) A functional model for extracellular gastric mucus in the rat.Virchows Archiv (B) 46, 239–51.
Ota, H., Katsuyama, T., Ishii, K., Nakayama, J., Shiozawa, T. &Tsukahara, Y. (1991) A dual staining method for identifying mucins of different gastric epithelial mucous cells.Histochem. J. 23, 22–8.
Roze, K. R., Cooper, D., Lam, K. &Costerton, J. W. (1982) Microbial flora of the mouse ileum mucous layer and epithelial surface.Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 43, 1451–63.
Sakata, T. &Engelhardt, W. V. (1981) Luminal mucin in the large intestine of mice, rats and guinea pigs.Cell. Tissue. Res. 219, 629–35.
Sandzén, B., Blom, H. &Dahlgren, S. (1988) Gastric mucus gel layer thickness measured by direct light microscopy. An experimental study in the rat.Scand. J. Gastroenterol. 23, 1160–4.
Schulte, B. A. &Spicer, S. S. (1983) Light microscopic detection of sugar residues in glycoconjugates of salivary glands and the pancreas with lectin-horseradish peroxidase conjugates. I. Mouse.Histochem. J. 15, 1217–38.
Suganuma, T., Katsuyama, T., Tsukahara, M., Tatematsu, M., Sakakura, Y. &Murata, F. (1981) Comparative histochemical study of alimentary tracts with special reference to the mucous neck cells of the stomach.Amer J. Anat. 161, 219–38.
Takeuchi, K., Magee, D., Critchlow, J., Matthews, J. &Silen, W. (1983) Studies of the pH gradient and thickness of frog gastric mucus gel.Gastroenterol. 84, 331–40.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ota, H., Katsuyama, T. Alternating laminated array of two types of mucin in the human gastric surface mucous layer. Histochem J 24, 86–92 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01082444
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01082444