Abstract
The experimental chronic gastric ulcers in rabbits, to be described, were obtained by making acute lesions in the stomach, which subsequently became chronic. An operative procedure was used which consisted in the excision of a piece of the gastric mucosa by means of a certain technic which has been described. 1 A series of chronic ulcers was collected ranging in age from 3 months to a little over 2 years. Large Flemish Giant rabbits were used. These animals usually live to be about 5 years old and an ulcer of 2 years'duration, therefore, occupies a large part of the life cycle of the rabbit. All animals were kept under the same conditions, and fed identical diets composed of hay, oats, carrots and some lettuce. The ulcers were fixed in formol-Zenker solution, serial sections were made, and stained with ordinary and differential stains.
From a histologic standpoint there are 2 main structures in chronic ulcers to be considered, i. e., the margin and the base. The margin is formed by mucosa which is composed of glands that decrease in length and are separated by relatively more connective tissue as the edge is approached. The last glands tend to overhang the ulcer and fall over into the crater. The cells composing these glands are all of one type, the foveolar cells. These are the cells that line the foveolae of normal gastric glands and have been shown to be the ones responsible for the regeneration of epithelium in acute gastric ulcers. (Ferguson. 1 ) In chronic ulcers a few of these cells invariably extend from the last marginal glands outward onto the floor of the ulcer. This indicates that the epithelium at the margin, in even the most chronic ulcers, is continually trying to grow out and cover the defect.
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