Ranitidine inhibits gastric acid and pepsin secretion following sham feeding

The effect of an oral therapeutic dose of 150 mg of ranitidine on the acid and pepsin response to sham feeding and pentagastrin was examined in healthy volunteers, using a double-blind random-isation method. Gastric juice was collected up to 255 minutes after ingestion of the drug. In placebo-treated subjects, basal acid secretion rate and the secretion rate following sham feeding and injection of 6 micrograms/kg of pentagastrin were 5.3 meq/h +/- 2.0 SEM, 12.3 +/- 3.2, and 24.4 +/- 5.4, respectively. The corresponding values in ranitidine-treated subjects were 0.1 +/- 0.1, 0.5 +/- 0.2, and 3.4 +/- 1.2, respectively. The reduction of acid secretion in all three instances is statistically significant (p less than 0.025, p less than 0.05, and p less than 0.05, respectively). Basal, sham feeding-stimulated, and pentagastrin-stimulated pepsin secretion rates in the placebo-treated group were 38.4 mg/h +/- 7.0 SEM, 68.6 +/- 13.2, and 39.2 +/- 8.0, respectively. In the ranitidine-treated group, the values were 5.0 +/- 3.4, 13.2 +/- 5.6, and 19.6 +/- 5.0, respectively. The reduction of pepsin secretion during basal state and following sham feeding is statistically significant (p less than 0.005 and p less than 0.01). Thus, oral ranitidine inhibits the acid and pepsin response to sham feeding in man. Its inhibitory effect on the acid response to pentagastrin lasts for at least 4 hours.