Bile salt-induced, acute gastric mucosal damage in man: time course and effect of misoprostol, a PGE1-analogue.

A model is presented that allows the assessment of acute mucosal damage in man. Damage is revealed by changes of gastric mucosal potential difference (PD), urea net fluxes and DNA shedding. Sodium taurocholate (TC) damages the mucosa in a dose-dependent fashion: 1 mM TC leads to a transient drop of PD with a subsequent rise of DNA-, but not of urea net fluxes. With 5 mM TC, the drop of PD drop lasts for more than 15 min, urea net fluxes are increased, and the rise in DNA is more pronounced. We examined in this model, whether misoprostol (SC 29333), a prostaglandin E1 derivative, could prevent the TC-induced damage. Misoprostol in an antisecretory dose lead to an overall increase of PD even in presence of TC, but did neither prevent the TC-induced drop of PD, nor the changes in urea and DNA net fluxes. Similar results were obtained, when a non-antisecretory ('cytoprotective') dose of misoprostol was given prior to TC. Misoprostol has gastrin antisecretory properties, but no cytoprotective effects against acute, taurocholate-induced mucosal damage in man.