No documented studies have been reported on the presence of B1 and B2 kinin receptors in the mammalian gastric mucosa. This first study aimed to immunolocalise sites of B1 and B2 kinin receptors in the human pyloric gastric mucosa and to evaluate its role in gastritis. Biopsies were obtained from patients with dyspepsia during endoscopic examination of the patient. The diagnosis and grading of the gastritis was performed on histological examination. Sections were immunostained for both B1 and B2 receptors using rabbit anti-human B1 and B2 kinin receptor antibodies. Control tissue was obtained from partial gastrectomy specimens, following surgical excision of the antrum for duodenal ulcers. The control antrum tissue showed strong immunoreactivity for kinin B2 receptors with positivity noted along the luminal border, at the base of the mucous and stem cells. The B1 receptor was not immunolocalised. Biopsies of all five patients with gastritis showed a decrease in immunolabelling of the B2 receptor and an induction of the B1 receptor especially in regenerating cells. In gastritis there is destruction of the normal mucosal glandular architecture with subsequent regeneration of the epithelial cells. The pyloric glands are infiltrated by acute inflammatory cells that cause crypt abscesses with loss of the epithelial cell membranes. This may explain the reduction in the immunolocalisation of the B2 kinin receptors and the induction of the B1 receptors in active gastritis. Follow up studies after treatment of the inflammation with a combination of B1/B2 kinin receptor antagonists are indicated.