Effect of intermittent administration of omeprazole on serum pepsinogens in duodenal ulcer patients and healthy volunteers.

1. Omeprazole, a substituted benzimidazole inhibitor of the gastric H+/K(+)-APT-ase, was administered orally at a dose of 20 mg in the morning of 3 consecutive days, followed by a period of 4 days without medication, and this intermittent dosage regimen was continued for 4 weeks. 2. During intermittent administration of omeprazole to 10 patients with duodenal ulcer disease and 10 healthy volunteers concentrations of serum pepsinogen A and serum pepsinogen C were monitored by sensitive and specific radioimmunoassays to study whether the effect of this treatment on serum pepsinogens is different between patients and normal subjects and to evaluate whether serum pepsinogen levels can be used to assess compliance with therapy. 3. Administration of omeprazole for 3 days induced significant increases in pepsinogen A and pepsinogen C serum concentrations, which rapidly fell after stopping the omeprazole intake. The pattern of serum pepsinogens after stopping the drug was different for duodenal ulcer patients and normal subjects. Both pepsinogens were intra-individually related in both patients and healthy subjects when compared during the first and last 3-day course with omeprazole, but in duodenal ulcer patients both pepsinogens tended to be higher in the last treatment course, while the opposite was found in the normal subjects. 4. The present study confirms that serum pepsinogen concentrations are higher in duodenal ulcer patients than in normal subjects, but also shows for the first time that serum pepsinogens in the patients respond differently upon stimulation with omeprazole.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)