Somatostatin - the long lost antral chalone.

For many years the existence of an antral inhibitory hormone or chalone has been controversial. Recent experimental findings however have suggested that there is an antral inhibitory mechanism, active against gastrin release and gastrin stimulated acid secretion, hat is suppressed in an alkaline milieu and stimulated in an acid milieu. Antral somatostatin possesses the characteristics necessary to fulfill this role, and these findings have prompted the hypothesis that somatostatin plays a vital role in the homeostasis of gastric acid secretion and is indeed the long lost antral chalone.