Catecholamines and experimental stress ulcer: morphological and biochemical changes in the gastric mucosa.

A model for the production of gastric mucosal haemorrhages and ulcers, similar in morphology and distribution to those seen in stress states in man, has been produced by the intraperitoneal injection of adrenaline in single, double or treble doses of 0.6 mg/kg. Lesions were produced in 2 or 3 h, without ligation of the pylorus. Severe mucosal changes were associated with a fall in gastric mucosal histamine concentration. Mucosal serotonin did not change. Rises in mucosal adrenaline were accompanied by a fall noradrenaline, total catecholamine levels being unchanged.