Paracrystalline inclusions in metaplastic ciliated cells of the human gastric mucosa. An ultrastructural study.

Unusual electron-dense paracrystalline inclusions were found in metaplastic ciliated cells in the stomachs of three Japanese male patients with gastric carcinoma. These patients had not been given antitumour drugs before surgery and ethrane (enflurane) was used as the anaesthetic. Ciliated cells in the gastric mucosa are found not infrequently in the pyloric glands in association with intestinal metaplasia in elderly Japanese patients. Paracrystalline inclusions were found only in the ciliated cells and never in any other types of gastric mucosal cell. These inclusions were located in the apical portion of the ciliated cells in intimate association with the basal bodies. They consisted of twisted strings about 27 nm wide with a regularly repeated spacing of about 30 nm. On highly magnified electron micrographs, granules about 4 nm in diameter were detected. These paracrystalline inclusions have never been reported previously, although their location in ciliated cells and their morphological characteristics suggest an intimate relationship with the ciliogenesis of metaplastic ciliated cells in the human stomach.