Histological and Micromeasuring Studies on the Senile Changes of the Human Stomach
1978 Volume 15 Issue 6 Pages 544-553
Details
1978 Volume 15 Issue 6 Pages 544-553
In order to clarify the senile changes of the stomach, histological and micromeasuring studies have been made on the stomach tissues without any pathological changes, obtained by surgery in case of early gastric cancer or gastric and duodenal ulcers.
1. Lamina propria mucosae of the stomach decreased gradually in thickness with age, and the decrease is due mainly to a decrease in thickness of the glandular portion.
2. Chief cells, parietal cells and mucous neck cells in the gastric glands decreased in number gradually with age. These changes were noticed more markedly in the chief cells, less markedly in the parietal cells and slightly in the mucous neck cells. The decrease in number of cells is considered to be proportional to grade of differentiation of the cells.
3. Size of the surface epithelial cells, chief cells, parietal cells and their nuclei is the largest in the fifth decade. In the aged, a slight decrease in volume is noticed in chief cells, but less marked in other glandular cells. A significant increase was observed in volume of surface epithelial nuclei.
4. The smooth muscle layer increased in thickness with age until sixth decade. The increase was supposed to be due to increase in number of smooth muscle cells. However, after seventh decade, there were observed decrease in number and increase in volume of the muscle cells.
5. Some characteristics in the aging process observed in the stomach have been discussed comparing with age changes of other organs and tissues.
