In the gastric mucosa of a patient with Helicobacter pylori infection and a precancerous lesion called "incomplete intestinal metaplasia" (Genta stain), the gastric cells lining a gland have been replaced by absorptive intestinal cells with visible brush border and goblet cells, which are normally present in the intestine, but not in the stomach. Goblet cells contain acidic mucins stained blue by Alcian blue. This type of precancerous transformation is caused by long-term infection with H. pylori, visible in the lumen of the gland as curved bacterial rods stained black by silver stain. A few bacteria invade the goblet cells and can be found within blood capillaries, where they bind to red blood cells (see Aspholm et al).
Image Credit: Light microscopy picture taken by C. Semino-Mora and A. Dubois using a Nikon Eclipse E800 Microscope and a QImaging MicroPublisher 5.0 RTV digital camera. Biopsy provided by V. Simko, Brooklyn VA Medical Center. Original magnification: 400x.
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