Regional Distribution of Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC) in Human Stomach
Regional Distribution of Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC) in Human Stomach
- Hyo-Yung Yun Rohyun Sung Young Chul Kim* Woong Choi Hun Sik Kim Heon Kim Gwang Ju Lee Ra Young You S
- 대한생리학회-대한약리학회
- The Korean Journal of Physiology & Pharmacology
- 제14권 제5호
- 등재여부 : KCI등재
- 2010.01
- 317 - 324 (8 pages)
We elucidated the distribution of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in human stomach, using cryosection and c-Kit immunohistochemistry to identify c-Kit positive ICC. Before c-Kit staining, we routinely used hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining to identify every structure of human stomach, from mucosa to longitudinal muscle. HE staining revealed that the fundus greater curvature (GC) had prominent oblique muscle layer, and c-Kit immunostaining c-Kit positive ICC cells were found to have typical morphology of dense fusiform cell body with multiple processes protruding from the central cell body. In particular, we could observe dense processes and ramifications of ICC in myenteric area and longitudinal muscle layer of corpus GC. Interestingly, c-Kit positive ICC-like cells which had morphology very similar to ICC were found in gastric mucosa. We could not find any significant difference in the distribution of ICC between fundus and corpus, except for submucosa where the density of ICC was much higher in gastric fundus than corpus. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the density of ICC between each area of fundus and corpus, except for muscularis mucosa. Finally, we also found similar distribution of ICC in normal and cancerous tissue obtained from a patient who underwent pancreotomy and gastrectomy. In conclusion, ICC was found ubiquitously in human stomach and the density of ICC was significantly lower in the muscularis mucosa of both fundus/corpus and higher in the submucosa of gastric fundus than corpus.