Sustained enhancement of gastric HCO3 secretion in humans by enprostil

Twelve healthy, male volunteers were treated for ten days, in double-blind conditions, with either enprostil, a PGE2 derivative, at a dose of 35 micrograms bid or with placebo. Before and after treatment fasting gastric juice was collected and basal bicarbonate secretion was measured by Feldman's method. In the enprostil group a statistically significant (p less than 0.01) increase in gastric HCO3 output was detectable 12 hours after the last dose. That finding, which is in keeping with the results of acute single-dose studies, suggests that stimulation of bicarbonate secretion by enprostil is not merely a transient phenomenon involved in the prevention of mucosal injury, but a lasting effect that may contribute to the ulcer-healing activity of the drug.