[Pancreatic secretion in domestic sprue]

Pancreatic function was determined (using the secretin-pancreozymin test) before the use of gluten-free diet in 22 patients with endemic (celiac) sprue. Water and bicarbonate secretion were within normal limits, if anything there was a trend to high-normal values. Remarkable and apparently characteristic for celiac sprue was the only slight contraction of the gallbladder after intravenous injection of submaximal doses of cholecystokinin-pancreozymin (CCK). Secretion of the 3 enzymes amylase, lipase and trypsin was decreased in about one third of cases, the difference relating both to the concentrations and the amount secreted, compared with normal control values was significant (P greater than 0.01). But in no case was the reduced enzyme secretion so marked that one would expect maldigestion. Multivariate non-linear discriminance analysis demonstrated that pancreatic secretion in sprue is quite distinct from that in healthy subjects and those with chronic pancreatitis. It is assumed that there is a pattern of exocrine pancreatic secretion typical for sprue.