Abstract
For the study of a possible intestinal metaplasia toward absorptive cells in cholelithiasis, the activity of disaccharidases was examined in the mucosal membranes of 70 lithiasic gallbladders by Tes-Tape method and each mucosal area with and/or without the activities was investigated by various morphological methods. Sucrase and/or trehalase was found positive in 41% of the bladders and both activities were located in almost identical areas of their mucosae, showing no definitive correlation with the degree of fibrosis found in the walls.
No clear-cut relationships seemed to be present in the bladder mucosae between the disaccharidase activity and the occurrence of intestinal metaplasias other than absorptive cells as well as between the activity and the mucin type of the surface coats.
The mucosal epithelial cells in the areas active of the disaccharidases appeared to reveal a formation of spike-like small cytoplasmic protrusions, which were associated with a concentration of microvilli and a slight increase in the thickness of glycocalyces as revealed by both transmission and scanning electron microscopy. There seemed, however, to be no evidence of ultrastructural changes in the epithelial cells within the active areas which would be identifiable as a definitive transformation to intestinal absorptive cells.
Consequently, it seemed reasonable to assume that the intestinal metaplasia toward absorptive cells in lithiasic gallbladders would remain incomplete when viewed from morphological aspects though would be substantiated in enzymology.
