J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 56(12): 1640-1659, 1956

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN STOMACH

The stomach, one of the most important organs, has been studied from the genetic point of view also by a large number of investigators. It has been demonstrated on the other hand that loss of the stomach as a food reservoir after total gastorectomy constitutes a major cause of the frequent occurrence of postoperative metabolic disturbance. My observation of the human stomach in course of its development, its morphologic development into a food reservoir in particular, led to the following results.
1) The stomach is enlarged in the form of a spindle in a very early stage of fetal life. The fundic, bodily and pyloric parts are distinguishable in a fetus in and after the 6th week of fetal life and the entire stomach, approaching in shape to that of an adult, is nearly comply complete in from in the 9th week.
2) At the end of the 4th month of fetal Iife the epithelial cells of the surface layer of the mucous coat in the area of the fundic glands are short and deeply stainable in their mucus, but those in the area of the pyloric glands are tall and columnar in shape and faintly stainable in the mucus, indicating that the epithelial cells in the two different areas are already morphologically varied about this early stage.
3) The formation of fundic glands gives its first sign in the form of parietal-cell differentiation in the fundus of the gastric pit in the 12th week of fetal life and the pyloric glands make their detectable appearance as glandular tubules produced in the fundus of the gastric pit in the middle of the 4th month.
4) The formation of circular muscles begins in the 5th week of fetal life and in the whole stomach wall are seen these muscles in the 7th week. The muscles of the pyloric sphincter begin to develop markedly in the 11th week, the longitudinal muscles in the 12th week, and the muscularis mucosae in the 16th.
5) As stated above, the stomach becomes enlarge to serve as food reservoir in a very early stage of fetal life and assumes its complete form around the 9th week of fetal life and in advance of the differentiation of gastric tissue. Such full development of the stomach in such an early stage of life may be taken to denote the high metabolic significance of the function of the organ as food reservoir.
(author's abstract)

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