Gastric somatostatin: a paracrine regulator of acid secretion.

The presence of acid in the lumen of the gastric fundus induces release of somatostatin close to the parietal cells; this acts to attenuate acid secretion in response to secretagogues, such as histamine and gastrin. The release of somatostatin within the stomach is further regulated by the activity of cholinergic neurons that inhibit somatostatin release and thus augment acid secretion (disinhibition), and noncholinergic (bombesin) neurons that stimulate somatostatin release and thus attenuate acid secretion. The influence of these neurons and the participation of somatostatin as a paracrine regulator of acid secretion has been probed and validated by the use of selective antagonists (atropine and a bombesin antagonist), somatostatin antiserum and pertussis toxin. Similar mechanisms exist in the distal antral segment of the stomach for the paracrine regulation of gastrin release by somatostatin.