Inhibition of gastric acid secretion by saiboku-to, an oriental herbal medicine, in rats.

Intraduodenal saiboku-to (250-1000 mg/kg) dose-dependently reduced gastric acid secretion and histamine output, without altering acetylcholine output in pylorus-ligated rats. Saiboku-to also inhibited subcutaneous bethanechol (1 mg/kg) and tetragastrin (0.3 mg/kg) -induced increases in gastric acid secretion in vagotomized pylorus-ligated rats; however, it did not inhibit subcutaneous histamine (20 mg/kg) -induced increase in acid secretion. These results, taken together, suggest a possibility that saiboku-to may inhibit histamine release. Thus, the effect of saiboku-to on histamine release was directly investigated by using anti-dinitrophenyl IgE-sensitized rat peritoneal mast cells. Antigen (dinitrophenyl)-induced histamine release from the mast cells was clearly dose-dependently inhibited by saiboku-to at concentrations of 0.1-1.0 mg/ml. These results suggest that the inhibited gastric acid secretion with saiboku-to is due to inhibited histamine release.