Gastric diversion: a method for H+ output estimation in the rat.

This study investigates whether 'gastric diversion', collecting gastric secretion from just distal to the pyloric sphincter into a plastic bag, provides an alternative to pylorus ligation to determine the rat basal acid output over 6 h. Gastric diversion did not produce distension, lesions visible through the serosa, or mucosal injury in any stomach, and all bags were found to be intact and to have completely drained their stomachs. The acid output (mean +/- SEM) was reproducible on the following day (59.7 +/- 2.8 vs. 60.4 +/- 2.4 mumol; n = 10) and a week later (62 +/- 3.2 mumol; n = 10). Atropine (5 mg/kg) or cimetidine (40 mg/kg) significantly (p less than 0.001) depressed this output (16.2 +/- 1.3 and 20.6 +/- 1.7 mumol, respectively, vs. 62 +/- 3.2 mumol; n = 10). The results illustrate that gastric diversion is accurate and suitable for basal acid output estimation and it is suggested as a valuable substitute for the classical Shay rat procedure, allowing gastric secretion collection over 6 h without gastric mucosal injury.