A gastric biopsy is taken from a 42 year old man. As the pathologist inspects the specimen, he observes numerous, normal cuboidal-to-columnar cells with apical membrane-bound secretion granules in the gastric glands. From which area of the stomach was the biopsy most likely taken?

The pathologist saw normal chief cells, which are abundant in the body and fundus of the stomach. Chief cells secrete pepsinogen, which is stored in apical membrane- bound granules. The body and fundus of the stomach contain high concentrations of four other types of cells in the epithelium. The parietal (oxyntic) cells are large, pyramidal, and acidophilic with central nuclei (look like a "fried egg"). They make and secrete HCl. The mucous neck cells secrete mucus and appear clear. The enteroendocrine cells have affinity for silver stains and exhibit a positive chromaffin reaction; these cells synthesize amines, polypeptides, or proteins.The cardiac region is a narrow, circular band at the transition between the esophagus and stomach, consisting of shallow gastric pits and mucous glands. It does not normally contain an abundance of chief cells.The columns of Morgagni are found in the rectum, not in the stomach. These are mucous membrane infoldings in the submucosa of the proximal anal canal. They would not contain chief cells.The greater omentum is a four-layered fold of peritoneum that hangs from the greater curvature of the stomach and attaches to the transverse colon. It would not contain chief cells.