The endogenous secretin in chicken: minor physiological role in exocrine pancreatic secretion

The action of secretin (SN) on the exocrine pancreas in the chicken was studied in comparison with the rat and dog. Hydrochloric acid (0.1 N), pepton (5%) and olive oil were introduced into the small intestine of conscious chickens with chronic pancreatic fistula and caused the volume and protein output to increase slightly in about two-thirds of the chickens tested. The percent increase of the volume output in anesthetized chickens by HCl instillation was only one-tenth of that in the rat. Acid extracts of the intestinal mucosa (80 mg) from chickens when given intravenously to rats caused the volume of secretion from the rat pancreas to increase about twofold, whereas the extracts from the dogs' and rats' intestine increased the volume output 5.9 and 5.5 times respectively. The increase of pancreatic secretion in chickens by intravenous injection of commercial SN was about one-third of that in the rat. The present studies indicate that SN or a SN-like hormone may be present in the chicken, but it plays only a minor physiological role.