Ultrastructure and molecular biological changes of chronic gastritis, gastric cancer and gastric precancerous lesions: a comparative study.

AIM

To carry out a comparative study on ultrastructure and molecular biological changes of chronic gastritis (CG), gastric cancer (GC) aand gastric precancerous lesions.

METHODS

By the use of histochemical staining, SEM with EDAX, TEM with EDAX, image analysis technique, RIA and chemiluminescence method, gastric mucosa of 168 patients were synchronously analyzed in morphology, trace elements, DNA, cAMP, SOD, (3)H-TdR LCT and serum LPO were also done.

RESULTS

The incidence of epithelial nucleoplasmic ratio >1, lobulated nuclei, inter-chromatin aggregation of granules, nucleolar hypertrophy, and the content of DNA, Zn, Cu in nuclei and serum LPO of each group were showed as belows: normal control group (0.0, 0.0, 6.7, 0.0, 12.6+/-2.7, 7.6+/-0.4, 58.4+/-0.3, 2.6+/-0.6), CSG group (5.7, 2.9, 7.4, 2.9, 15.2+/-3.1, 8.1+/-0.5, 58.9+/-0.5, 4.2+/-0.7), CAG group (31.3, 29.7, 45.3, 42.2, 16.5+/-3.1, 8.6+/-0.4, 59.3+/-0.5, 4.5+/-0.6), CA group (100.0, 100.0, 72.2, 50.0, 30.7+/-8.2, 8.8+/-0.3, 59.5+/-0.4, 6.8+/-1.6), ATP(++) group (61.5, 38.5, 23.1, 38.5, 23.5+/-8.9, 8.3+/-0.4, 59.1+/-0.4, 5.1+/-1.2), IM(++)+ATP(++)group (77.8, 55.5, 33.3, 44.4, 25.1+/-7.2, 8.4+/-0.5, 59.5+/-0.4, 6.5+/-1.1), IM(+++)+ATP(++) group (100.0, 100.0, 75.0, 62.5, 28.5+/-9.1, 8.9+/-0.5, 59.7+/-0.4, 7.6+/-0.7), IMII(b) group (100.0, 62.5, 75.0, 50.0, 27.3+/-10.3, 8.6+/-0.3, 59.5+/-0.4, 6.1+/-0.9); whereas the content of Zn, Cu in mitochondria and cAMP, SOD in gastric mucosa, and (3)H-TdR LCT of each group were showen as belows: normal control group (9.2+/-0.5, 58.3+/-0.3, 15.9+/-1.5, 170.5+/-6.1, 1079.7+/-227.4), CSG group (8.6+/-0.5, 57.8+/-0.3, 14.6+/-1.8, 163.3+/-5.6, 867.3+/-240.5), CAG group (8.3+/-0.4, 57.5+/-0.3, 13.4+/-1.8, 161.2+/-4.3, 800.9+/-221.8), CA group (8.9+/-0.4, 57.1+/-0.3, 10.2+/-3.9, 152.2+/-3.8, 325.7+/-186.8), ATP(++) group (9.1+/-0.4, 57.0+/-0.3, 12.4+/-1.8, 161.5+/-3.8, 642.9+/-174.3), IM(++)+ATP(++) group (8.6+/-0.4, 56.9+/-0.3, 12.0+/-2.3, 152.2+/-2.5, 326.3+/-160.3), IM(+++)+ATP(++) group (8.5+/-0.3, 56.8+/-0.2, 10.4+/-0.9, 147.4+/-2.6, 316.1+/-170.7), IMII(b) group (8.6+/-0.3, 56.9+/-0.3, 11.9+/-1.9, 150.0+/-2.8, 318.9+/-145.8), there were significant differences between groups (P<0.05-0.01).

CONCLUSION

There was a significant difference between CG and GC in their ultrastructure and molecular biology. Only on the condition of changes of internal environment in combination with the harmful effect of external environment, chronic atrophic gastritis can then develop into gastric cancer. Hence it might have similar epithelial cell ultrastructure and molecular biological changes in ATP(++), IMII(b) and cancer, hence there were similar patterns of occurrence, development and transformation. Recognition of this trend might help to explore problems of prevention and cure.