Fig. 2. Immunohistochemical localization of MMP-7 in human gastric epithelial cells. Immunoperoxidase labelling of MMP-7 and counter-staining with haematoxylin in antral biopsies from (A) H. pylori-negative and (B) H. pylori-positive subjects, and (C) in corpus biopsies from H. pylori-negative and (D) H. pylori-positive subjects (all x10). Higher magnification (x40) of the same samples (E–H, respectively) reveals cytosolic localization to a subnuclear region of surface mucus cells (arrow). (I) Immunofluorescence localization of MMP-7 to cells in a cultured antral gland from a H. pylori-positive subject (bar, 25 µm). The outline of the gland is indicated with a white broken line. (J) MMP-7 immunoreactivity in a cell at the periphery of a cultured antral gland from a control subject after H. pylori addition, demonstrating a lamellipodium with punctate MMP-7 immunoreactivity (bar, 50 µm). (K) Co-expression of MMP-7 (green) and mucin (red) in antral cells, demonstrating MMP-7 is not exclusively localized with mucin and showing the presence close to the plasma membrane of cells at the periphery of the cultured gland (bar, 10 µm). (L–N) Deconvolved images from a z-series through a single antral cell (outlined by a white broken line) showing that MMP-7 and mucin exhibit punctate staining in distinct subcellular compartments (bar, 10 µm).

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