Dedifferentiation of enterochromaffin-like cells in gastric cancer of hypergastrinemic cotton rats.
The role of enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells in gastric carcinogenesis is not fully understood. Spontaneous tumours developing in hypergastrinemic female cotton rats have an adenocarcinoma phenotype, but numerous cells in the dysplastic mucosa as well as in the carcinomas are positive for neuroendocrine markers. In the present study of female cotton rats with 2 and 8 months' hypergastrinemia, the oxyntic mucosa of the stomach was examined histologically and immunolabelled for histidine decarboxylase (HDC) and pancreastatin, and hyperplastic and neoplastic ECL cells were evaluated by electron microscopy. These animals developed hyperplasia of the oxyntic mucosa in general and of the ECL cells in particular after 2 months and dysplasia and carcinomas after 8 months. The immunoreactivity of the ECL cells in the oxyntic mucosa was increased at 2 months and declined at 8 months. These histological changes were associated with progressive loss of secretory vesicles and granules in ECL cells. We suggest that ECL cells in hypergastrinemic cotton rats dedifferentiate with time and that the gastric carcinomas may develop from ECL cells.
Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. reidar.fossmark@ntnu.no
Reidar
R
Fossmark
Chun-Mei
CM
Zhao
Tom C
TC
Martinsen
Shiro
S
Kawase
Duan
D
Chen
Helge L
HL
Waldum
D000818:Animals; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D053379:Chromogranin A; D019861:Enterochromaffin-like Cells / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005755:Gastrins / Q000097:blood; D006640:Histidine Decarboxylase / Q000032:analysis; D006965:Hyperplasia; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones / Q000032:analysis; D010295:Parietal Cells, Gastric / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D016205:Sigmodontinae; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology
D053379:Chromogranin A; D005755:Gastrins; D010187:Pancreatic Hormones; C050836:pancreastatin; D006640:Histidine Decarboxylase