Nerdy Science Blog

Human closest friends may have been protecting children from developing asthma.  A study led by NYU Langone Medical Center researchers found that a long-time microbial inhabitant of the human stomach, Helicobacter pylori, may protect kids between the ages of 3 and 13 from asthma.  However H. pylori can also lead to peptic ulcers and stomach cancer.

(news)

When I was reading about the infection of Helicobacter pylori, I came across the phrase “G cells”.

Figure 1 Helicobacter pylori infects the stomachs of many millions of people. (Janeway et al., 2005)

H. pylori infects many people around the world and causes peptic ulceration or chronically lead to atrophy.

G cells are cells that secret gastrin. G cells are found mainly in gastric glands of the pyloric cavity mucosa of the stomach. The gastrin G cells secreted can stimulate the secretion of gastric acid by parietal cells of stomach.

References:

Janeway et al. (2005), Immunobiology: The Immune System In Health and Disease (6th ed.), Garland Science Publishing.

Wikipedia (2008), G cell, accessed on 25 March 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G_cell.