Gastric secretory and motility studies in chronic chagasic patients

In Chagas' disease, the degeneration of the nerve cells of the intramural parasympathetic ganglia of the stomach causes a wide range of motor and secretory disturbances of the organ. To assess and to correlate the alterations of these two gastric functions, electromanometric and secretory studies were performed in 22 chagasic patients and in 12 control individuals. The gastric antrum electromanometric records were carried out in basal conditions and under the stimulation of methacholine chloride (Mecholyl). Gastric secretory studies were carried out in two sessions with a Kay's test: in the first, with the test alone; in the second, associated with bethanechol chloride (Urecholine). The chagasic patients were divided into two groups according to their gastric motor response to methacholine. It was concluded that the parasympathetic denervation in Chagas' disease changes both acid and pepsin secretions in the same direction but that as the disease worsens, the responsiveness of pepsin secretion to cholinergic action tends to disappear earlier than that of acid secretion.