Effects of pyloroplasty, truncal vagotomy, and antrectomy on parietal cell regeneration in experimental gastric wounds in the rat. A light and electron microscopic study.

Parietal cell regeneration in cauterized gastric wounds was studied in rats after antrectomy (Billroth I), pyloroplasty, and truncal vagotomy with pyloroplasty. Six to eight animals in each group were killed 90 or 130 days after operation, and in each rat stereological data were obtained from electron micrographs of 15 to 20 parietal cells from the wound area, from the normal mucosa beside the wounds, and from the mucosa in unoperated controls. Antrectomy reduced parietal cell size and mucosal thickness in normal mucosa and retarded parietal cell maturation and reduced mucosal thickness in the healing wounds. Pyloroplasty slightly reduced parietal cell size in normal mucosa and retarded maturation of the parietal cells in the wounds. If truncal vagotomy was added, the reduction in parietal cell size induced by the pyloroplasty was prevented in normal mucosa.