[Neurogenic stress gastric ulceration--an experimental study in rats]

Experimental investigation was performed on pathogenesis of neurogenic stress gastric ulceration, i.e. the gastric ulceration occurring under stress in individuals having brain lesions. Male Wistar rats, weighing 250 to 300 g, were divided into the following 4 groups: a) the normal group, b) the subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) group, in which 0.2 ml of arterial blood had been injected into the cisterna magna 3 days before, c) the brain lesion group, in which various right hypothalamic nuclei had been coagulated stereotaxically 7 days before, and d) the brain lesion plus SAH group, in which hypothalamic lesions had been produced 7 days before, followed by SAH 3 days before experimentation. They were stressed by applying restraint plus water immersion for 3 hours, and measurements were done on relative ulcer lengths (RUL) in the glandular stomach, gastric acid secretion, gastric mucosal blood flow (MBF) and gastric emptying function. In the SAH group, stress gastric ulcerations, 18.2 +/- 1.4 mm (mean +/- SE) in RUL, were produced, being significantly larger than the value, 10.2 +/- 1.7 mm, in the normal group. Stress ulcerations were milder than the normal control in the rats having lesions at the preoptic area (POA) or the anterior hypothalamic area (AHA), while the rats having ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) lesions showed marked ulcerations, 21.8 +/- 2.7 mm in RUL, which were significantly larger than those in the normal group. Addition of SAH to VMH lesions did not cause a further increase in RUL.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)