Increased gastric epithelial cell proliferation in Helicobacter pylori associated follicular gastritis.
OBJECTIVE
An increase in the proliferative state of the gastric epithelium has been attributed to infection with Helicobacter pylori. In order to obtain a more precise estimate of the magnitude of this change, the proliferative state of 17 cases of florid H pylori associated follicular gastritis was examined using the antibody MIB-1.


METHODS
Comparable results were produced from control and gastritis cases by using a combination of two reproducible measures of the labelled cells. Dividing cells in the gastric mucosa are concentrated within a proliferating compartment, situated at the base of the crypts. This compartment was measured and expressed as a proportion of the total crypt length. The proportion of positively labelled cells within the compartment was also counted.


RESULTS
The proliferation compartment in the gastritis cases occupied 45.6% of the gastric crypt compared with 15.4% in the control group. Of the cells in the proliferating compartment, 79.5% were positively labelled in the gastritis cases and 33.4% in the control group.


CONCLUSIONS
The convoluted nature of the gastric crypt does not make it a forgiving experimental model. The use of long lengths of mucosa obtained from gastrectomy specimens permitted the production of consistent results, using a morphometric method. The greater than 100% difference in the proportion of proliferating cells between the two groups suggests that further investigation is warranted.
Havard
T J
TJ
Department of General Surgery, Southampton General Hospital.
Sarsfield
P
P
Wotherspoon
A C
AC
Steer
H W
HW
D002455:Cell Division; D004848:Epithelium / Q000473:pathology; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000473:pathology*; D005756:Gastritis / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000473:pathology*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans