DENERVATION PROMOTES THE DEVELOPMENT OF CANCER-RELATED LESIONS IN THEGASTRIC REMNANT

Innervation of the gastric mucosa plays an important role in its defen se mechanism. In a previous study, gastrectomy with denervation promot ed 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. Gastrecto my with denervation promoted the development of intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia, and carcinoma in the gastric body. Proliferating cell nucl ear antigen labeling indexes as a marker for cell kinetics were signif icantly elevated in the denervated group. Analysis of mucin histochemi stry by staining with paradoxical concanavalin A (PCA) and galactose o xidase-Schiff (GOS), which are markers for expression of the gastric p henotype, revealed that these mucins were positive in submucosal adeno cystic proliferation and carcinoma at the anastomotic site. Conversely , in the gastric body these mucins disappeared with progression of dys plasia, and carcinoma cells contained neither PCA- nor GOS-positive mu cins. 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 developmen t of cancer-related lesions in the gastric body.