Effects of peptide YY on dog and rat pancreatic secretion in vivo and in vitro.

The action of peptide YY (PYY) on exocrine pancreatic secretion in dogs and rats was compared in in vivo and in vitro studies. PYY infused i.v. in the physiological dose range (125-1000 pmol/kg.h) reduced in a dose-dependent manner the pancreatic protein response to caerulein and suppressed basal and meat feeding or duodenal oleate-induced pancreatic secretion in conscious dogs. Both meat feeding and duodenal oleate caused significant elevation of plasma PYY levels and these showed several-fold increase during infusion of exogenous PYY (500 pmol/kg.h) inducing significant inhibition of the postprandial or oleate-stimulated pancreatic secretion. PYY in a dose range of 2.5-40 nmol/kg.h also inhibited the response to caerulein in conscious rats but failed to prevent the increment in the postprandial protein secretion in this species. PYY added in various concentrations (10(-11)-10(-6) M) to the incubation medium of the isolated dog and rat pancreatic acini failed to affect basal or caerulein- and urecholine-stimulated amylase release. This study shows that PYY is an effective inhibitor of the pancreatic secretion in vivo but not in vitro suggesting that the inhibition is mediated by an indirect mechanism.