The Turnover of Mucin Glycoprotein in the Stomach

Abstract
The secretion of mucin by the cells lining the gastrointestinal tract has always been considered to serve, in part at least, as a protective mechanism for the underlying glands and cells with their various absorptive properties. In the stomach, in addition, this mucin has been believed to protect the mucosal tissue cells from the products of its own glandular secretions, that is hydrochloric acid and the enzyme pepsin. Recent investigations, however, suggest that its function in the stomach, at least, is not simply, that of “un vas impermeable” (Bernard, 1856), but that it forms a much more dynamic role.