AN IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL SURVEY OF GASTRIC PROTEINASE (PEPSINOGEN AND PROCHYMOSIN)-CONTAINING CELLS IN THE STOMACH OF THE DEVELOPING OPOSSUM (DIDELPHIS-VIRGINIANA)

Cells immunoreactive to antisera of bovine pepsinogen and prochymosin are seen in the oxyntic glands but not the pyloric or cardiac glands of the opossum. Immunoreactivities to pepsinogen and prochymosin occur within the same cell and are restricted to an undifferentiated cell type prior to weaning. The undifferentiated cells producing these gastric proteinases decrease in number until just prior to weaning and disappear with the appearance of chief cells. Thereafter, immunoreactivities to both gastric proteinases are seen primarily in chief cells.