Expression of Mucins in the Human Fetal and Neonatal Stomach

抄録

To study human gastric epithelial development, we examined the expression of MUC1 core, sialylated MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 in the stomachs of 22 fetuses at 9 to 30 weeks' gestation and of 7 neonates. Fetal gastric epithelial development was divided from the literature into the first stage of primitive gastric epithelial stem cells showing a columnar appearance, the second stage of primitive gastric stem cells forming primitive glands, and the third stage of gastric stem cells differentiating to fundic and pyloric glandular cells. Primitive gastric epithelial stem cells expressed MUC1 core and sialylated MUC1, and developed into early primitive gastric stem cells expressing MUC5AC. The primitive gastric stem cells and the gastric stem cells expressed the mucins examined. In the third stage, expression of the mucins was suppressed once, but the gastric glandular cells again expressed MUC1 core and sialylated MUC1, MUC2, and MUC6 in neonates, whereas most of the epithelial cells expressed MUC5AC. This suggests the postnatal maturation of the gastric glandular cells. Developing gastric stem cells expressed the mucins examined, with the simultaneous expression of MUC1 core and sialylated MUC1 in these gastric stem cells suggesting the high production and incomplete glycosylation of MUC1, and MUC5AC expression being involved in early gastric organogenesis.