Summary
1. The values of volume, acid, sodium, potassium, chloride, and pepsin in gastric juice in the basal state and following stimulation with histamine given subcutaneously or infused intravenously are reported. Nearly 160 studies were done in five groups consisting of control subjects and patients with duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer, gastritis, and cancer.
2. The interrelations between a number of the constitutents of human gastric juice are described. With all other conditions the same, changes in one of the major solutes of gastric secretion are accompanied by predictable changes in the others.
3. It is concluded that the process of gastric secretion is a fully integrated mechanism, with the gastric tubule comprising the basic unit of the mucosa. This unit has been named the gastron. Its main actions are tentatively divided into a primary mechanism, the function of which is to secrete [Na+K] Cl and water (and, incidentally, pepsinogen, since the chief cells are thought to perform this function), and in the parietal cells, a secondary mechanism, which exchanges H for Na and so produces HCl.
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References
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The studies reported in this article were supported in part by Grants RG 4298-C, C-4010, and C-4564 from the U.S.P.H.S.
The substance of this paper was given in a symposium on Peptic Ulcer at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, Sept. 24, 1959, which was supported in part by Reed and Carnrick Pharmaceuticals.
Many of the studies reported were done at the University of Michigan and at Temple University. I am grateful to the many people at one time or another concerned in these studies—in particular, Drs. J. A. London, H. S. Wiggins, and I. N. Marks.
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Hirschowitz, B.I. Electrolytes in human gastric secretion. Digest Dis Sci 6, 199–228 (1961). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02283955
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02283955