J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 60(10): 1595-1616, 1959

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STUDIES ON ARGENTAFFIN CELLS OF THE STOMACH IN CASES OF VARIOUS GASTRIC DISEASES

Recently serotonin (enteramine) has attracted so much clinical attention that argentaffin cells in relation to its productive site are coming to the fore from standpoint of histochemical pathology. Histochemical studies on the argentaffiin cells have so far been made more about the ileocoecal part than about other parts of the alimentary canal, but very little about the stomach. The author, therefore, made researches of the argentaffin cells of the stomach, mainly on resected specimens derived from surgical operation (184 cases) and at the same time on specimens from autopsy and animal examination for comparative purposes. Since operative specimens are fresh due to short interval from resection to fixation, observation of the argentaffin cells is made available enough to discern a strict histochemical change in cases of various gastric disease.
The findings observed on clinical and experimental materials are summarized as follows:
1) It has been known that argentaffin cell granules can be stained by several other histochemical reactions than argentaffin one. The author applied each one of those reactions to all his cases to study histochemical specifity and practicality through comparing each method and found out that cell granules could be reacted positive by Gibbs' method of the highest histochemical specifity. The author also found out by using Bodian-Hamperl's method that argyrophilic cell granules, different from argentaffiin cell granules stained by Gomori's or Fontana-Masson's meteod, were distributed in the following state in the gastric mucosa. In normal gastric mucosa argyrophilic cells alone are regularly distributed while so-called argentaffin cells exist in duodenal mucosa side of the pyloric ring. This finding is used as a criterion in judging various states of gastric diseases.
2) About chronic gastritis that brings about diffuse pathologic changes in the stomach, histogenetic classification was done from dynamic viowpoint where the author noticed histochemical findings of cell granules occurred quite often in the same order as atrophy and exhaustion of the gastric mucosa. In other words, as atrophy in gastritis gets severer, argyrophilic cells gradually decrease and completely disappear when glandular tissue turn into the state of anadenia. On the contrary, so-called argentaffin cells appear in gastric mucosa side of pyloric ring and tend to increase.The above-mentioned correlations between argyrophilic and argentaffiin cells is so regular and so much corresponding to process of chronic gastritis that the author consider it as useful findings for clinical pathology.
3) Equally, about various localized pathologic changes in the stomach, studies were made on cell granules by histochemical stainings, particularly on tumors in connection with carcinoid which is considered to relate symptomatically to argentaffin cells. The author discovered 2 cases of argentaffin cell tumor out of 117 cases of gastric cancer. Althogh these 2 cases are evidently cancer histomorphologically, they may, clinically be of interest since the prognosis prove to be better as compared with other cancer cases.
In cases of adenoma, it is observed that the cell granules, as adenoma becomes malignant, decrease and disappear.
The cell granules could not be found in cases of ulcer, sarcoma, myoma, fibromyoma and granuloma of the stomach. This finding bears out the fact that argentaffin cells cannot be generated from any other cells than epidermal cells.
(Author's abstract)

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