Gastric response to meat extract stimulation in patients with gastroduodenal ulcer and patients after vagotomy or antrectomy.

Gastric acid secretion basally and in response to intragastric meat extract instillation or to tetragastrin, and circulating gastrin concentration basally and after meat extract stimulation were studied in 67 patients with gastroduodenal ulcer, 30 patients after highly selective vagotomy or selective vagotomy for duodenal ulcer, 12 patients after antrectomy for or gastric ulcer and 10 control subjects. Circulating gastrin concentration increased significantly after meat extract stimulation in control subjects, patients with ulceration and patients after highly selective vagotomy, and acid secretion in each group was increased significantly above basal level. In patients after selective vagotomy, significant increase of circulating gastrin concentration was observed, but it was not associated with significant increase of acid secretion. After antrectomy, neither gastrin nor acid secretion increased significantly after meat extract stimulation. In conclusion, present study suggested that (1) gastric acid secretion in response to intragastric meat extract is chiefly affected by the responsiveness of oxyntic cells and release of antral gastrin and that (2) the presence of the antrum is almost essential for acid secretion after a test meal, and release of duodenal gastrin after antrectomy would not be so potent biologically as to result in an acid secretion.