Molecular forms of gastrin in antrum and duodenum after parietal cell vagotomy.

We examined whether parietal cell vagotomy (PCV) changed the distribution between the different molecular forms of gastrin. Serum, antrum, and duodenum from PCV patients, unoperated duodenal ulcer (DU) patients and control subjects were studied. PCV was followed by a twofold increase in the serum gastrin concentration, while the distribution between small and large gastrins were unaffected. However, sulfation of antral gastrins was reduced from 45 percent in unoperated DU patients to 34 percent in PCV patients (p less than 0.01). We conclude that gastrin sulfation is diminished after PCV. Diminished sulfation seems to be correlated to hypergastrinaemia of antral origin and not to specific diseases.