The Effect of Exogenous Gastrin on the Acid Sham Feeding Response in Antrum-Bulb-Resected Duodenal Ulcer Patients

Knutson, U. & Olbe, L. The effect of exogenous gastrin on the acid sham feeding response in antrum-bulb-resected duodenal ulcer patients. Scand. J. Gastroent. 1974, 9, 231-238.Physiological vagal activation of the gastric acid secretion by 15-min sham feeding was initiated in 6 duodenal ulcer patients after antrum-bulb resection. The sham feeding tests were performed with and without concomitant i.v. infusion of pentagastrin in a just suprathreshold dose. Four of the patients were sham fed both before and after the antrum-bulb resection. In these patients the resection reduced the peak acid sham feeding response by 51 % and the maximal acid response to pentagastrin by 42%, the latter figure probably reflecting a general and irreversible decline of the acid-secreting capacity. After the resection, the pentagastrin had only an additive effect on the acid sham feeding response. The results indicate that the sensitivity of the parietal cells to cholinergic direct vagal activation in the duodenal ulcer patient is maximally facilitated by gastrin (or its physiological equivalent) originating outside the antrum-bulb region – quite contrary to the analogous condition in the dog – and that vagally released gastrin from the antrum-bulb area in the duodenal ulcer patient contributes to the acid secretion evoked by physiological vagal activation but only with an additive secretory effect.