Light and electron microscobic changes in aging rat stomach

In our study, to examine the functional and structural changes in aging stomach, we used 24 rats of 4 different age groups that are 1 day, 22 days, 10 weeks ans 22 months old. Besides immunohistochemical observations with PCNA and caspase-9 markers, we also used a special staining method; Alcian blue-PASIn our special staining, we observed that gastric mucosa was immature in 1 day old rats, while gastric pits and gastric glands in 22 days old rats were mature. In 22 months old group we were not able to distinguish cells in gastric glands due to aging. There were also corrupted areas in some regionsIn our immunohistochemical observations with PCNA marker, we determined that proliferation increases in developing stomach, while the difference between number of proliferating cells in 10 weeks and 22 months old groups were not statistically significantWe also examined caspase-9 immunoreactivity in aging rats and concluded that apoptosis increases with advancing age in gastric glandsIn our electron microscopic observations, epithelial cells were not able to form into a regular line and tubulovesicular structures of parietal cells were immature in 1 day old group, where mitochondrions were also observed in fetal structure. In 22 days old group surface epithelial cells were not observed in their mature structure, while tubulovesicular structures in parietal cells were mature with intracellular canaliculi and mitochondrions were in their regular structure. In 22 days old group surface epithelial cells were watched with their enlarged granular endoplasmic reticulum tubules. There were also degenerative changes in parietal cells.