[Quantification of gastrin-producing cells (G cells) in chronic gastritis]

The gastrin-producing G-cells of the antropyloric mucosa are affected by a variety of disorders. By immunoperoxidase methods, employing a specific anti-gastrin I and II antibody, we demonstrated G cells in antropyloric biopsies of 15 patients with chronic gastritis, 6 of them with gastric ulcer and 1 with duodenal ulcer disease. As controls we studied 5 biopsies of histologically normal antropyloric mucosa. We correlated the numbers of G cells per gland with the histological, clinical and endoscopic findings. Normal antropyloric mucosa contained a mean of 2.11 G cells per gland. Patients with chronic gastritis had decreased numbers of G cells (mean 0.75) The difference was statistically significant. The cases with chronic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia had lower numbers of G cells (mean 0.38). The case with duodenal ulcer had a number of G-cells similar of normal cases (1.57). This finding give a morphologic basis for the low gastrin serum levels usually present in these entities.