The Roles of Mast Cell and Histamine in the Stomach Wall for the Secretion of Gastric Juice

Abstract

In an attempt to elucidate the pathophysiology of the digestive diseases, especially the dieases of the stomach, the roles of the mast cell and the histamine in the gastric wall were studied. The tissue histamine was measured by the Shore's method. The mast cell count was expressed as the number in one squre milimeter of the tissue sheet.
The results obtained were as follows:
1) The tissue histamine contents of the digestive organs in a man died from other than digestive disease were 1.46μg/g in the cardia and in the corpus of the stomach respectively and 1.0μg/g in the jejunum. In the rabbit, however, the average tissue histamine contents of the digestive organs were 0.48μg/g in the cardia, 0.34μg/g in the duodenum and 0.50μg/g in the jejunum respectively. Those in the guinea pigs were 0.43μg/g in the pylorus, 0.76μg/g in the duodenum, and 0.78μg/g in the jejunum. Those in rats were 0.74μg/g in the stomach, 0.33μg/g in the colon and 0.25μg/g in the small intestine.
2) In the glandular portion of the guinea pigs' stomach a close relationship was found between the tissue histamine content and the mast cell count.
3) In the resected stomachs of the patients with peptic ulcer, the mast cell counts were determined in various non-ulcerated portions. The mast cell counts were more numerous in the pylorus region than in the corpus, and the mast cell counts in the submucosal layer were more evident than in the mucosal layer in both regions. Also the tissue histamine contents in the pylorus region were greater than those in the corpus.
4) In rats, the influences of the administration of the stimulator or the inhibitor for gastric secretion upon the mast cell count and the histamine content as well as pH in gastric juice were studied. The subcutaneous injections of the stimulators such as 0.05mg of histamine hydrochloride, 0.05 of regular insulin, and 0.5 γ or 0.05 γ of gastrinlike substance given individualy brought an increase in numbers of intact-mast cell as well as degranulated mast cells and an increase in content of tissue histamine in the glandular portion of the stomach, and at the sametime these injection caused a decrease in pH of gastric juice.
On the contrary, after the subcutaneous injections of 1r.u. of enterogastron, 0.025mg of atropine sulfate, 0.5 μ of secretin or 5 γ of gastrin-like substance the numbers of intact-mast cells as well as degranurated mast cells and the tissue histamine content in the glandular portion of the stomach decreased and at the sametime these injection caused an increase in the pH of gastric juce.
5) The average histamine contents released in the basal gastric juice of the patients with stomach diseases were 139.0μg/l in 7 cases with atrophic gastritis, 95.8μg/l in 5 cases with gastric ulcer and 89.4μg/l in 10 cases with duodenal ulcer respectively, indicating the higher levels than the mean value of 81.3μg/l in 8 healthy persons.
From the results mentioned above, the mast cell and the tissue histamine in the glandular portion of the stomach were considered to have a close correlation and to play an important role for the secretion of gastric juice.