An electron microscopic study of the ciliated cells in the human gastric mucosa.

Ciliated cells were found in the mucosa of the human stomach in three patients. In two cases they occurred in the pyloric mucosa of patients with intestinal metaplasia who were operated on for duodenal ulcer. In the other case, they occurred within a polypoid lesion. They were located in small limited areas. The cells were densely ciliated, each cilium showing a typical 9+2 fibrilar pattern. Ciliated cells are not found in normal gastric mucosa and this suggests that they occur only in pathologically altered mucosa.