A freeze-fracture study on the basolateral plasma membrane of the gastric parietal cells in fasting and refed rats.
The basolateral plasma membrane of the gastric parietal cells in rats after food-deprivation and food-restitution was studied by thin-section and freeze-fracture electron microscopy. A decrease in the number of tubulovesicles and dilatation of the canalicular lumen were generally observed in the parietal cells of the refed rats. Basal folds, demonstrated both in fasting and food-resupplied rat groups parietal cells by thin-section electron microscopy, appears as branched furrows on the P face and branched wrinkles on the E face plasma membrane by the freeze-fracture replica method. Parietal cells providing numerous basal folds appeared to be more numerous in refed rat gastric gland. The basal folds may represent, at least to some extent, a reservoir of a surplus plasma membrane and play an important role in secreting substances into and also absorbing substances from the blood capillary via the underlying connective tissue.
D000818:Animals; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005215:Fasting; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D010295:Parietal Cells, Gastric / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats