318 Granule Cells of Paneth in Intestinal Glands of Mammals 



Zipkin, 04, describes the Paneth cells of Imms rhesus as present with- 

 out exception in the bottom of every crypt, often lying beside one another 

 in considerable numbers. The protoplasm of these cells always stain 

 more deeply than that of the surrounding cells. 



Oppel, 97, described, in the glands of Lieberkiihn of Echidna, cells, 

 at the bottom of the gland, the inner segment of which was finely granu- 

 lar. The granules diminished in number as the mouth of the gland was 

 approached and in the upper portion of it were wholly lacking. 



Schmidt, 05, studied the distribution of the cells of Paneth in the 

 human intestine and confirmed the observations of Bloch, 03, who found 

 them in practically every gland of - the ileum and jejunum, as well as of 

 the duodenum. In addition, Schmidt found Paneth cells frequently 

 present in the glands of the vermiform appendix, although he was not 

 able to find them in other portions of the large intestine except in three 

 cases of pathological conditions. Concerning the occurrence of Paneth 

 cells in the large intestine of the infant where Bloch claims to have 

 observed them, Schmidt records a negative result in five newborn children. 



For the differentiation of goblet cells from Paneth cells Schmidt used 

 mucicarmine by means of which he obtained a sharp distinction even 

 in the foetal intestine. As far as the function of the Paneth cells is 

 concerned he regards the fact of their absence from the intestines of 

 even young carnivora as opposed to the conclusion which might be 

 drawn from Bloch's observation of their occurrence in large numbers in 

 the large intestine of suckling infants, that they have something to do 

 with the secretion of a substance which is active in the digestion of milk. 

 He is rather inclined to the view that inasmuch as they are constantly 

 present in the glands of herbivorous animals they affect some constituent 

 of the vegetable food. 



As far as the occurrence of Paneth granule cells in lower classes of 

 Vertebrata is concerned comparatively few references can be found in 

 the literature. Nicolas, 91, in the article already referred to mentions 

 their occurrence in the lizard without stating the species examined, and 

 E. Bizzozero, 04, has described, in the depressions between the folds of 

 the intestine in Teleostomes, cells which contain numerous granules 

 stainable in haematoxylin but differing in their characters from the 

 young goblet cells which occur in the same location. 



The last decade has been particularly fruitful in researches dealing 

 with the morphology and microchemistry of glandular cells. As a result 

 of these, new methods have been devised and new criteria established for 

 distinguishing between zymogenic cells and mucous cells. In particular 



