Chief cell

Pepsinogen is activated into the digestive enzyme pepsin when it comes in contact with hydrochloric acid produced by gastric parietal cells.

[2] This type of cell also secretes gastric lipase enzymes, which help digest triglycerides into free fatty acids and di- and mono-glycerides.

[3] There is also evidence that the gastric chief cell secretes leptin in response to the presence of food in the stomach.

[9] The gastric chief cell has an extensive network of lamellar rough endoplasmic reticulum organized around the nucleus.

The gastric chief cell also contains many large secretory vesicles filled with digestive enzymes in the apical cytoplasm.

Chief cells are part of fundic gland polyps (here shown in high magnification). [ 11 ]