Kulchitsky Cells

KULCHITSKY CELLS, cellular elements of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, characterized by the ability to reduce silver from its ammoniacal solutions (another name is argentaffin cells—Masson). Kulchitsky cells for the most part have the same shape as the cylindrical epithelium of Lieberkühn's glands, but their protoplasm (mainly in the basal section) contains small granules [see separate table (vol. XIV, pp. 375-376), Fig. 4]. Kulchitsky cells are easily distinguishable from other cells because 1) they are sharply stained with acid fuchsin into a bright red color ("acidophilic cells" of Kulchitsky); 2) they possess a selective affinity for chromium salts upon fixation with the latter ("yellow cells" of Schmidt or "enterochromaffin cells" of Ciaccio) and 3) they reduce silver from its ammoniacal solutions ("argentaffin cells"). Kulchitsky cells have been described in most vertebrates and in humans. They are found in the mucous membrane of the entire gastrointestinal tract, but most of all in the duodenum. At the base of Lieberkühn's glands they are more numerous than in the villi. According to the majority of investigators, Kulchitsky cells develop from the entoderm and in humans appear in the 4th–5th month of embryonic life (in animals somewhat later). Danisch believes that argentaffin cells develop from the primordia of sympathetic ganglia and then crawl further toward the mucous membrane; Kull derives them from the mesenchyme. Regarding the function of Kulchitsky cells, there is no unity of views. Kulchitsky (who described them among the first) believes that they take part in the resorption of nutrients. Some ascribe an exocrine function to them (Cordier), others an endocrine function (for example, Parat and Kull think that they secrete secretin). Masson holds an original view, suggesting that argentaffin cells secrete their product into nerve fibers. The role of Kulchitsky cells in pathological processes of the gastrointestinal tract is still poorly studied. Observations by a number of authors show that carcinoids of the intestines arise from Kulchitsky cells (see). Masson also thinks that neuromas arise from them (e.g., in the vermiform appendix). In gastric cancers, among ordinary tumor cells, argentaffin Kulchitsky cells are encountered. In chronic gastritis, Hamperl observed a large number of Kulchitsky cells in the gastric mucosa. Recently, Kulchitsky cells have been described in the pancreas (Gedeon Eros, Lazovsky). They possess the same properties with the exception of the chromaffin reaction, which is detected only in pathological cases (e.g., in atrophy of the gland in dogs).