Enzyme Histo- And Biochemistry of Intestinalized Gastric Mucosa

Seen from the enzyme histochemical patterns, intestinal metaplasia appearing in the gastric mucosa was divided into two types; small intestine type and colon type. Among these types, the incidence of the former was highest. In the typical small intestine type, the patterns of the enzyme reactions in the striated border and cytoplasm were almost the same as in the jejunal villus epithelial cells. In addition, enzymaticall.y atypical cells among the small intestine type cells were frequently seen, too. In the colon type, activities of enzymes in the striated border were very weak or almost negative and cytoplasmic enzymes were moderately reactive resembling the pattern of the colon epithelial cells. In parallel with histochemical study, activities of disaccharidases were biochemically measured on the homogenate of the gastric mucosa. Following the appearance of intestinal metaplasia, activities of maltase and sucrase were significantly elevated showing the pattern of the small intestine, while lactase activity was not increased. In some cases, the ratios of maltase to sucrase activity were distributed in wider range in the intestinalized gastric mucosa than in the small intestine.These enzymochemical findings in intestinal metaplasia were discussed from a viewpoint of cell proliferation and differentiation.