Gastric glands and cells

Anatomically, stomach can be divided into 3 parts from above to below:

  1. Cardiac
  2. Fundus and body/corpus
  3. Pyloric/Antral

Gastric pits deepen as we move below from cardiac to pyloric glands.

Mucus secreting cells: Present in all 3 glands – cardiac, fundic and pyloric but predominate in cardiac and pyloric glands.

Pyloric glands have 1 more cellG cells which secrete Gastrin.

gastric glands

Fundic glands (gastric glands of fundus and body) can be divided into 3 parts from above (towards gastric pit) to downwards:

  1. Isthmus (Outer zone) – Mucus cells and Stem cells
  2. Neck (Middle zone) – Parietal (Oxyntic) cells
  3. Fundus (Basal zone)Chief (Zymogen) cells and Enteroendocrine cells (Mnemonic: ECF)

Parietal (Oxyntic) cells secrete:

  1. Hydrochloric acid
  2. Intrinsic factor
  3. Ghrelin

Mnemonic: Parietal cells are Pink (Eosinophilic).

Chief (Zymogen/Peptic) cells secrete:

  1. Pepsin
  2. Gastric lipase

Mnemonic: Basal cheif cells are Blue (Basophilic). These have a lot of rough endoplasmic reticulum (rER).

Enteroendocrine cells:

  • G cells = Gastrin
  • D cells = Somatostatin
  • ECL cells = Histamine


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