Characterization of in vivo acid secretory responses of rabbit with comparison to dog and rat.

Even though rabbit gastric glands are a commonly used model for the study of gastric physiology, little is known about the secretion of gastric acid in the rabbit in vivo. Gastric acid secretion in response to pentagastrin, histamine, and bethanechol stimulation, and the effect of specific cholinergic and histamine H2-receptor blockers was studied in 62 urethane-anesthetized rabbits. Additionally, the responses of eight conscious rabbits prepared with chronic gastric fistula were compared with similarly prepared conscious dogs (n = 10) and conscious rats (n = 18). In anesthetized rabbits, maximal pentagastrin stimulation resulted in acid outputs only 22% that of maximal histamine stimulation, but this was enhanced by restoring cholinergic tone with a subthreshold infusion of bethanechol. In conscious rabbits, pentagastrin was an effective stimulant, resulting in maximal acid output 70% that of maximal histamine stimulation. This is in contrast to the in vitro findings reported reported by others utilizing isolated gastric glands and cells. Histamine was a potent stimulant of acid secretion in both the anesthetized and conscious rabbit, an observation that parallels the in vitro findings. Unlike the dog and rat, atropine was ineffective as an inhibitor of histamine-stimulated acid secretion in the conscious rabbit, although it was marginally effective against histamine in anesthetized rabbits and against pentagastrin in conscious rabbits. It is concluded that cholinergic tone plays a crucial role in pentagastrin-stimulated acid secretion in the rabbit. This may be an explanation for the poor response to pentagastrin described in isolated rabbit gastric gland preparations.