Control of secretion from rat stomach ECL cells in situ and in primary culture

The acid-producing part of the stomach is rich in peptide-hormone-producing endocrine/paracrine cells of different types. In birds and all mammals studied, ECL cells constitute the quantitatively predominant endocrine cell population in this location. They produce histamine and an as yet unidentified peptide hormone. The paracrine action of the ECL cells is to provide histamine to mediate the stimulating effect of gastrin on the acid-secreting parietal cells: the gastrin-ECL cell-parietal cell axis. Secretion of histamine from the ECL cells was studied in intact conscious rats subjected to gastric submucosal microdialysis and using isolated cells in primary culture. The microdialysis experiments revealed that ECL-cell histamine can be mobilized by the local infusion of gastrin, pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide (PACAP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), peptide YY (PYY), met-enkephalin, endothelin and noradrenaline/adrenaline. While gastrin and met-enkephalin induced a sustained elevation of the submucosal histamine concentration, endothelin, PYY, PACAP, VIP, and noradrenaline/adrenaline induced a transient elevation. Somatostatin, galanin and the prostanoid, misoprostol, inhibited gastrin-stimulated histamine mobilization. Studies of isolated ECL cells (80-90% purity) showed gastrin, PACAP and VIP to stimulate histamine secretion and somatostatin, galanin and misoprostol to inhibit gastrin-stimulated secretion. At present, it seems unlikely that metenkephalin, endothelin, adrenaline and PYY act directly on the ECL cells in situ since the effects could not be reproduced with isolated ECL cells. Clearly, the ECL cells operate under the multifactorial control of circulating hormones, local hormones, catecholamines, neuropeptides and inflammatory mediators.