Gastric antisecretory activity of cycloheximide due to inhibition of protein synthesis

Treatment of rats with cycloheximide 1 h before carbachol dose-dependently reduced the secretagogue-stimulated gastric acid secretion in pylorus ligated rats, and partially blocked carbachol- or histamine-induced activation of rat gastric (H+ + K+)-ATPase which includes translocation of reserve intracellular (H+ + K+)-ATPase into the apical membrane of the parietal cells and induction of a KCl pathway. Time-course studies showed that the drug was effective only when administered at least 30 min before the secretagogues. Puromycin showed the same effect as cycloheximide. Pulse labelling studies with [35S]methionine led to identification of two most actively synthesized polypeptides in rat gastric mucosa; the proteins of 38,000 and 14,000 molecular weight. The larger polypeptide was identified as rat pepsinogen. The identity of the smaller protein is not known yet. We suggest that synthesis of nascent polypeptide(s) is required for certain steps of the acid secretory process leading to the activation of the acid pump.