Pancreatic secretory and trophic response to caerulein in rats: effect of proglumide and lorglumide.

The effect of proglumide and lorglumide, two CCK-receptor antagonists, on caerulein-induced pancreatic secretion and growth was studied in the rat. In anaesthetised animals, caerulein (1 microgram/kg) significantly increased the volume of pancreatic juice and protein output. Lorglumide (5 and 10 mg/kg), administered intraperitoneally 15 min before stimulation, reduced peptide-induced pancreatic exocrine secretion. By contrast, proglumide (100 and 400 mg/kg) was completely ineffective. In experiments dealing with the trophic effect of caerulein, both drugs were administered alone or combined with the peptide (1 microgram/kg) 3 times daily for 5 d. Saline-treated rats served as controls. At the end of the experiment, rats were sacrificed, and growth and composition of pancreatic tissue were determined. Pretreatment of the animals with either proglumide or lorglumide did not affect pancreatic size and composition. Caerulein increased the weight of the pancreas, the total pancreatic protein, trypsin, amylase, and DNA content. After pretreatment with proglumide, all these parameters were not significantly different from those obtained with caerulein alone. In contrast, when lorglumide was given together with caerulein, it significantly reduced caerulein-induced pancreatic growth and decreased enzymatic protein content of the gland. These results show that lorglumide is a much more potent and effective CCK-receptor antagonist than proglumide. Its ability to antagonize the pancreatic secretory and trophic action of a CCK-analogue (i.e. caerulein) supports the view that these physiological actions of CCK are mediated through an interaction of the hormone with specific receptors.