Ultrastructure of the Gastric Mucosa in Human Hemochromatosis

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Abstract
In hemochromatosis the cells of the gastric mucosa are loaded with molecules of ferritin which are found both disseminated in the hyaloplasm and included inside large intracellular bodies. These bodies containing ferritin correspond to the hemosiderin of the histologists, which is commonly demonstrated by dyes which stain iron. Their great abundance in the glandular crypts enables one easily to make the diagnosis of hemochromatosis by gastric biopsy. Certain of these inclusions in the mucous neck cells and in the chief cells have an unusual appearance which is not found in the other cells of the gastric mucosa or in the liver cells. Their morphology suggests that ferritin accumulates within these inclusions in the same way as the normal secretion is formed. Although we have noted a high concentration of iron in the gastric juice during hemochromatosis and a great deal of ferritin is found in the lumen of the glandular tubes, it is still impossible to say whether this ferritin and this iron result from a secretion and digestion of the bodies containing ferritin, or from lysis of the whole glandular cells, which are normally desquamated into the lumen.