AUTORADIOGRAPHIC OBSERVATIONS ON THE MUCOUS CELLS OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINE

¹ The Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford

1. Certain of the epithelial cells of the stomach and duodenum take up ³⁵S from intravenously injected Na₂³⁵SO₄ and incorporate it in the mucous secretion. The particular types of cell which do this vary from species to species.

2. The goblet cells of the small and large intestines of all the species examined take up ³⁵S from Na₂³⁵SO₄. The ³⁵S iS first concentrated in the supranuclear or "Golgi body" region, before being distributed through the intracellular mucin.

3. The ³⁵S is taken up rapidly, and radioactive mucin is being discharged within an hour or so of the injection of Na₂³⁵SO₄. Most of the radioactivity has disappeared from the cells in 24 hours.

4. After the intravenous injection of [³⁵S] methionine, radioactivity appears diffusely in gastro-intestinal epithelium, and shows no concentration in the mucus-producing cells.

5. Some implications of the results are discussed.

We wish to acknowledge our debt to Mr. J. Kent who assisted in all the animal work, Mr. D. Jerrome who prepared the autoradiographs and devised suitable staining methods, and Mr. B. H. Glass who took the photographs.