Cell kinetic study on the healing process of indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal lesion of rats

In healing process of indomethacin (IND)-induced gastric mucosal lesion of rats, cell kinetics in the cells from margin of mucosal lesion, background mucosa and pyloric gland mucosa were investigated with histochemistry using bromodeoxyuridine. Results obtained were as follows; 1) In marginal cells of mucosal lesion, cell number of s-phase expressing the cell renewal abruptly increased 6 hours after IND injection, showed maximal value at 24 hours and kept higher value even at 72 hours, when the lesions were in scar stage. 2) In background mucosal cells, the cell number of s-phase showed higher value at 12 hours after IND injection, although statistically not significant, and significantly lower value at 24 and 48 hours after IND injection. 3) Some s-phase cells were observed in the surface epithelial cells covering the mucosal defect. 4) In pyloric gland mucosal cells, there was no remarkable change in cell number of s-phase during the experimental period. It was concluded that in healing process of acute gastric mucosal lesion, there was a time lag between the macroscopic observation and cell kinetics in normalization of s-phase cell number.