Acid secretion in isolated gastric glands from healthy subjects and ulcer patients

Isolated human gastric glands provide an in vitro model that can yield significant information about the mechanisms regulating gastric acid secretion at the parietal cell level. Aminopyrine, a weak base that accumulates in acid compartments, has been used as an indirect probe of H+ secretion. By means of a microscale technique it was possible to isolate oxyntic glands from gastroscopic biopsy specimens and thereby enable studies of healthy subjects and non-operated ulcer patients. Histamine (5.4 X 10(-5) M) and db-cAMP (10(-3) M) both induced a pronounced response, whereas the response to carbachol (4.5 X 10(-6) M), although still statistically significant, was less potent. The response to stimuli was twice as high in duodenal ulcer patients as in normal individuals. In contrast, the response in patients with a gastric ulcer located either in the prepyloric region or at the minor curvature on the antrum-corpus border was of the same magnitude as in healthy subjects. Pentagastrin did not induce any response in isolated gastric glands from normal individuals. Gastric acid secretion in vitro, measured as aminopyrine accumulation, did not decrease with increasing age of the individuals.