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Small intramucosal tumours in the oxyntic area of the rat stomach were observed in an oncogenicity study with omeprazole. The tumours could be defined as carcinoids of enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cell origin. ECL cells occur exclusively in oxyntic mucosa and respond to the trophic hormone gastrin with a proliferation that becomes exaggerated in old rats. Inhibition of gastric acid secretion is known to induce hypergastrinaemia in rats. According to the common concept of endocrine cells, a sustained hormonal stimulation with gastrin may induce a continuous gradient between hyperplasia and neoplasia of the ECL cells. The tumours found are thus to be regarded as hormone-induced endocrine tumours of the ECL cells in the stomach. The ECL-cell tumours of the rats in the oncogenicity study appeared to belong to the low-malignancy type of carcinoids and did not make their appearance until the end-life period of the study. The sex and species differences observed may be explained by inherent differences in gastrin response, spontaneous ECL cell density or in responsiveness to gastrin-stimulated ECL cell proliferation between sexes and species.
Niilo Havu (Wed,) studied this question.