Stress gastric bleeding. Prevention of experimental lesions by intravenous hyperalimentation

Rats, weighing 125-150 gm., were restrained under a tight wire screen for one hour at 20degrees C and another hour at 4degrees C of ambient temperature. Animals receiving no infusions, or those receiving an intravenous solution of normal saline, developed 16 +/- 3 S.D. bleeding areas in their gastric mucosa. In contrast, in animals exposed to the same degree of stress who received intravenous hyperalimentation, the number of gastric stress bleeding areas counted was 4 +/- 2 S.D. These results demonstrate that the delivery of calories and protein in the form if intravenous hyperalimentation can significantly reduce the incidence of gastric stress bleeding in an experimental model (P less than .001).