Keratin Pattern in Hyperkeratotic and Ulcerated Gastric Pars Oesophagea in Pigs

The study investigated the keratin expression patterns in the gastric pars oesophagea of pigs to understand the susceptibility to ulceration. It found that keratin pairs K 4/K 13 and K 5/K 14 were similarly expressed in both normal and affected epithelia. However, markers for hyperproliferative conditions (LL020 and LHK6) were present in the hyperkeratotic and ulcerated epithelium but not in normal tissue, indicating that K 6 expression is associated with mucosal changes. The findings suggested that epithelial proliferation and hyperkeratosis are linked to the development of gastric ulcers in pigs.