The vagogastrone mechanism in man.

From experiments on the dog evidence has accumulated of vagal release of a candidate hormone inhibiting gastric acid secretion--vagogastrone. The nature and origin of vagogastrone are uncertain. The inhibitory effect of vagogastrone is characteristically exerted against gastrin-stimulated acid secretion from the vagally denervated parietal cell area. In the present study vagal activation by sham feeding significantly inhibited the submaximal acid response to continuous i.v. infusion of pentagastrin in seven duodenal ulcer patients previously subjected to proximal gastric vagotomy. The inhibitory effect was slight--16% reduction--and of short duration. Sham feeding had no effect on the pentagastrin-stimulated acid secretion in six subjects with an intact stomach. The results favour the existence of a vagogastrone mechanism in man, but the inhibitory effect seems to be of quantitatively minor importance, at least in the duodenal ulcer patient.