Gastric histopathology examination

Gastric tissues were immediately fixed with a 4% paraformaldehyde solution for pathological analysis; gradient alcohol and xylene were used for dehydration and transparency separately. The tissues were impregnated with wax and embedded. The sections were made to a thickness of 5 μm, stained with hematoxylin for 30 min, counterstained with eosin, dehydrated with gradient alcohol, thoroughly permeabilized with xylene, sealed with neutral resin, observed under a light microscope (BX53, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan), and blind analysis was performed by an experienced histopathologist.