Innervation of the gastric mucosa plays an important role in its defense mechanism. In a previous study,
gastrectomy with
denervation promoted
tumorigenesis in the gastric body in rats after administration of a carcinogenic agent. In this study we investigated the induced gastric mucosal changes from the viewpoint of
mucin histochemistry.
Gastrectomy with
denervation promoted the development of intestinal
metaplasia, dysplasia, and
carcinoma in the gastric body.
Proliferating cell nuclear antigen labeling indexes as a marker for cell kinetics were significantly elevated in the denervated group. Analysis of
mucin histochemistry by staining with paradoxical
concanavalin A (PCA) and
galactose oxidase-Schiff (GOS), which are markers for expression of the gastric phenotype, revealed that these
mucins were positive in submucosal adenocystic proliferation and
carcinoma at the anastomotic site. Conversely, in the gastric body these
mucins disappeared with progression of dysplasia, and
carcinoma cells contained neither PCA- nor GOS-positive
mucins. These results suggest that there are two different processes of
carcinogenesis in the gastric remnant, depending on the location, and that
denervation of the remnant gastric mucosa promotes the development of
cancer-related lesions in the gastric body.