Intestine-like remodeling of adult mouse glandular stomach by implanting of fetal intestinal mesenchyme.

A morphogenetic response of adult glandular stomach grown in contact with implanted fetal intestinal mesenchyme has been demonstrated. Mesenchymal tissues from intestines of 14- to 16-day-old BALB/c mouse fetuses were introduced beneath the epithelial layer of glandular stomach in 2-month-old mice and allowed to develop. Three to 4 weeks later, remodeling of the epithelial architecture had occurred; the characteristic glandular pit structure of normal stomach had been replaced by immature villi and crypts composed of mucus-secreting columnar cells more characteristic of intestinal tissues. Chief and parietal cells had disappeared, but neither goblet nor Paneth cells were observed. Such intestine-like morphogenesis was not induced by similarly implanted mesenchymal controls from fetal glandular stomach, forestomach, and salivary gland. A possible role of the mesenchymal stroma in the pathogenesis of intestinal metaplasia in stomach is discussed.