Heartburn, or acid indigestion, occurs when stomachg acids back up into the esophagus, burning its lining…?
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at
12:15 pm
Heartburn, or acid indigestion, occurs when stomach acids back up into the esophagus, burning its lining. What can you infer about the type of cells that line the esophagus? How are they different from the cells that line the stomach
Filed under: Heartburn Questions
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more prone to damage from stomach acid then stomach lining cells, not acid resistant
In the stomach there is mucus that forms a barrier around the cells to protect it from acid damage. That means there are goblet cells (producing mucus) in the epithelial layer of the stomach lining.
There is no such lining in the oesophagus.
But, due to chronic gastric reflux and heartburn… there could be GLANDULAR METAPLASIA
which means that one type of epithelial cell is replaced by (differentiates into) another
In this case the normal squamous epithelium of the oesophagus turns into the mucosa that resembles that of the stomach, and some even differentiate into goblet cells, producing mucus to protect itself. This condition is called BARRET’S OESOPHAGUS.