A carbohydrate histochemical study on surface mucous cells, mucous neck cells and chief cells in the gastric mucosa of developing mice.

The ontogenesis of the mouse gastric mucosa was studied by carbohydrate histochemistry and 3H-thymidine autoradiography. Surface mucous cells and glandular cells were identified from day 16 of gestation. Sugar residues in the mucin of surface mucous cells seem to undergo no major changes throughout the period under study, since secretory granules of the cells were positive in periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and galactose oxidase-Schiff (GOS) reactions and consistently bound certain lectins. Chief cells and mucous neck cells are not separated until the third postnatal week, though primitive chief cells are present during earlier developmental stages. Secretory granules of primitive chief cells shared positive PAS and GOS reactions with mucous neck cells and bound similar lectins, but the intensity was generally weaker. The granules of primitive chief cells were also stained by Bowie's solution which exclusively stained zymogen granules in chief cells in adults. These results suggest that secretory granules of primitive chief cells contain a complex carbohydrate similar to mucin in mucous neck cells, but with a lower sugar/protein ratio. It is concluded by studies using 3H-thymidine autoradiography combined with carbohydrate histochemistry that, though immature surface mucous cells, primitive chief cells and mucous neck cells actively proliferate, chief cells rarely undergo mitosis.