Trophic actions of E2 prostaglandins in the rat gastrointestinal mucosa. A quantitative morphologic study.

Adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats in groups of 10 received one of the following treatments orally twice daily for 3 wk: prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) 7.5 mg X kg-1, 15(R)-15-methyl prostaglandin E2 (MePGE2) at 0.2 or 2.0 mg X kg-1, or vehicle. After 18 h of fasting and 10-12 h after the last dose, the rats were anesthetized, and the gastrointestinal tract was fixed and processed for macroscopic and microscopic investigations. Trophic changes were more pronounced in the gastric antrum than in the gastric corpus or small intestine. The thickness of the antral mucosa was significantly increased by PGE2 and in a dose-related way by MePGE2. The mucosa of the gastric corpus became significantly thicker only with the higher dose of MePGE2. In all the prostaglandin-treated groups, the proportion of endocrine cells was reduced. Small--but sometimes significant--changes were registered in the proportions of the various exocrine cells. The parietal cells became significantly larger (+88%) in the rats treated with high doses of MePGE2. The secretory surface of the parietal cells was markedly increased by PGE2 and MePGE2. The enlargement of the secretory surface in animals treated with prostaglandins corresponded to a marked elevation of the basal gastric acid secretion and an increase in plasma gastrin levels. Hypergastrinemia can explain some, but not all, of the trophic changes observed in this study. Light microscopic examination of the duodenal and jejunal mucosa showed dose-related increases in villus heights and crypt lengths after treatment with MePGE2. Only the duodenal villus heights were increased by PGE2.