Regulation of gastric epithelial cell development revealed in H /K -ATPase β-subunit- and gastrin-deficient mice

Abstract

The gastric H+/K+-ATPase is essential for normal development of parietal cells. Here we have directly assessed the role of the H+/K+-ATPase β-subunit (H/K-β) on epithelial cell development by detailed quantitation of the epithelial cell types of the gastric mucosa of H/K-β-deficient mice. H/K-β-deficient mice had a 3.1-fold increase in the number of immature cells per gastric unit; however, the numbers of surface mucous and parietal cells were similar to those in the gastric units of wild-type mice. The effect of elevated gastrin levels in the H/K-β-deficient mice was determined by producing mice that are also deficient in gastrin. We demonstrated that the increased production of immature ce..