The image here shows the inner surface of the cardiac region of the stomach. It contains mainly mucous secreting glands.
Can you identify the epithelium, lamina propria, muscularis mucosa, submucosa, blood vessel, and mucus secreting glands.
(If you want to, remind yourselves about the layers of the GI tract).
Mucus secreting glands (cardiac glands) here have a very obvious lumen, and they have a simple columnar epithelium.
The high power image on the left hand side shows the gastric mucosa from the fundus (main body of the stomach). It contains numerous gastric pits.
Can you identify Parietal cells and Peptic cells, surface mucous cells, gastric pits, and the base of the pits.
Notice how the gastric glands in the fundus have small lumens, and most of the glands appear to be cords of cells
The mucosal (pyloric glands) in this region look different to the gastric glands in the body of the stomach. The pits are deeper, and the glands shorter and more branched. There are fewer parietal cells, and most of the cells are mucosa secreting cells, which you can tell from the pale staining appearance. There are also some specialised enteroendocrine cells called G cells, mostly in the neck of the glands, which secrete the peptide hormone gastrin. Gastrin is secreted in response to the presence of food in the stomach, and it stimulates the secretion of pepsin and acid by the gastric glands. (The hormone will be transported in the local capillary system, and act locally). There are also neuro-endocrine cells (enteroendocrine cells) that secrete serotonin, and somatostatin (a regulating hormone that controls levels of insulin, glucagon, gastrin and growth hormone secretion).
What can you identify in this section?