Abstract
The areae gastricae of the antral mucosa were examined on 143 cases with and without gastro-duodenal diseases by dye spraying endoscopy. Areae gastricae of the antral mucosa, called pyloric type area, were classified into 4 types: Po is the smallest area arranged closely to each other. P1 is small in size, uniform and arranged regularly. P2 is irregular in form and arrangement. P3 is the most irregular in size, form and arrangement. Pb is like P3 but not so tall and is seen on the lesser curvature of the gastric body. P0 and P1 were seen in the antrum of the stomach with large fundic mucosa, and P2 and P3 (Pb) were with small fundic mucosa. The amount of parietal cells in the gland, atrophy of the gland, foveolar hyperplasia, intestinal metaplasia, cellular infiltration and lymph follicle of biopsied specimen were examined. Many parietal cells were seen in the P0 type mucosa. In addition, mild or no changes in the other factors were seen in P0. More severe atrophic changes were observed in the order of P1, P2 and P3 (Pb). Considering the patterns of areae gastricae and histologic findings, we can make the following conclusions. 1) Our classification of pyloric type area corresponds to the histologic findings of antral pyloric mucosa. 2) Atrophic changes of the pyloric mucosa progress in parallel with those of fundic mucosa. 3) Pyloric gland consisted of mucous and parietal cells is a form of normal structures of non-atrophic antral mucosa. These parietal cells may be the manifestation of latent capacity of the stem cells in the antrum.
