The effect of antral distension on acid secretion and plasma gastrin in duodenal ulcer patients.

The effect of antral balloon distension on acid secretion and the plasma gastrin concentration was studied in 8 duodenal ulcer patients. Antral distension significantly increased the acid secretion to about 30% of the peak acid response to pentagastrin without any change in the plasma gastrin concentration. Antral distension and concomitant intragastric neutralization, with the intention of facilitating release of antral gastrin, produced about the same acid response and did not evoke any plasma gastrin increment. The results suggest that the acid response to antral distension in duodenal ulcer patients is evoked without contribution of the gastrin mechanism, and that the acid response is probably mediated via a pyloro-oxyntic reflex. In this respect the duodenal ulcer patient seems to differ from the healthy subject, in whom antral distension produces no acid response, and from the dog, in which release of gastrin as well as pyloro-oxyntic reflex participate in the acid response to antral distension.