The effects of exercise training on serum gastrin responses in the horse

Gastroendoscopic surveys have shown that horses in race training have a greater prevalence of gastric ulceration than sedentary horses. To determine if exercise affects gastric endocrine function the following experiment was performed. Four horses were fed total mixed ration of ground corn and chopped hay at 2% of their body weight, divided into 2 equal portions, daily. Horses were fasted overnight, and serum gastrin concentration was determined just before and 2 hours after feeding. The horses were then sprint trained on a high speed treadmill for 6 weeks. The response of serum gastrin to feeding was then repeated as before. Serum gastrin increased following feeding both before and after training, however the postfeeding gastrin value was higher [p = 0.035] after training (68.1 +/- 6.9 pg/ml [mean +/- 1 SEM]) than before (42.7 +/- 3.8 pg/ml). These data show that treadmill exercise has an effect upon the gastric hormonal response to a meal in the horse. The relationship of this finding to the development of gastric ulcer disease is unknown at present, but warrants further investigation.