ii8 BIOLOGY OF THE LABORATORY MOUSE 



antrum. It probably has the function of directing the swallowed food 

 toward the non-glandular part for storage. 



The glands of the stomach are compactly arranged, simple, branched, 

 tubular glands lying parallel to one another, perpendicular to the surface 

 and occupying the thickness of the mucous membrane. On the surface of 

 the stomach a multitude of small depressions form the gastric pits, foveolae 



Ridge 



Gastric pit 



Gastric gland 



Muscularis mucosae 

 Submucosa 



Muscularis externa 

 Serosa 



Lamina propria 



Non-glandular part 



^^^:<:: 



Fig. 54. — Stomach, region of ridge between non-glandular and glandular part. ( X 100.) 



gastricae. Into the bottom of each pit small groups of gland tubules open 

 through slight constrictions. 



The inner surface of the glandular stomach is covered, and its pits are 

 lined, by tall simple columnar epithelial cells containing mucigen. They 

 have large oval nuclei, located in the lower halves of the cells. In sections 

 the cytoplasm above the nucleus shows faint granulation. 



The glandular area of the stomach may be divided into two main parts, 

 the larger containing the gastric glands, also called fundic glands, and the 

 smaller containing the pyloric glands. At the junction of the glandless and 

 glandular areas the stratified squamous epithelium covering the ridge is 

 replaced by simple tall columnar cells (Fig. 54). Here a very short tran- 

 sitional zone exists where two to three rows of gland tubules are present, 



