Classification of vacuolated cells in the gastric mucosa.

Five different types of vacuolated cells occurring in the gastric mucosa were described. In haematoxylin-eosin stained preparations, one type was characterized by supranuclear clear vacuoles, the other by supranuclear dark vacuoles, another by usually supranuclear vacuoles and cilia, a fourth type by subnuclear clear vacuoles centered by a lymphocyte, and the fifth type by subnuclear empty vacuoles. In the latter three types, a battery of mucous stains were negative. The significance of some of these vacuolated cell types remains to be elucidated.