Alterations in gastric mucosal microvascular endothelium in a stressed condition--relevance to gastric ulcerogenesis

The present paper describes the morphological and functional alterations of the gastric mucosal microvascular endothelium under restraint-stressed condition. On the basis of the direct cholinergic innervation of capillaries and non-muscular venules in the gastric mucosa, these endothelial changes would be caused by the stress-induced overstimulation of the cholinergic nerves and modified by the degranulation of mast cells, contributing to the stress-induced ulcer formation as schematically illustrated in Fig. 10.