Role of blood flow in gastric and duodenal mucosal injury in the rat.

The hemorrhagic hypotension model in anesthetized rats was used to study the relationship between gastric and duodenal mucosal blood flow and susceptibility to acid-induced injury. Mucosal blood flows measured by the hydrogen gas clearance technique in the corpus, antrum, and duodenum all showed a significant linear correlation with mean blood pressure, decreasing progressively as blood pressure fell. Significant gastric mucosal lesions occurred only after mean blood pressure and hence, mucosal blood flow was reduced to below 40% of baseline values. In contrast, duodenal mucosal lesion formation was related in a linear manner to decrease in mean blood pressure or blood flow. We conclude that mild reductions in blood flow are more important in the duodenum than in the stomach in increasing susceptibility of the mucosa to acid-induced injury.