Significance of gastric secretory changes in the pathogenesis of stress ulcers.

Analyses of gastric juice withdrawn 3 hours after the pylorus was ligated and of plasma corticosterone and blood glucose after animals were exposed to rotational stress revealed that gastric secretion was highest in controls, intermediate in stressed rats that developed ulcers, and lowest in stressed rats that did not develop ulcers. Neither high nor low gastric secretion correlated with stress-ulcer formation. When initial mucosal ischemia and secretory inhibition, which occurred in all stressed rats, were considered, those that developed ulcers manifested gastric hypersecretion when compared with those that did not develop ulcers. The pathogenetic significance of gastric hypersecretion in stress-ulcer formation is discussed and correlated with mucosal microvascular changes during stress. Mean plasma corticosterone was highest in stressed rats that developed ulcers, next highest in stressed rats that did not develop ulcers, and lowest in control rats. Compared with normal rats, mean blood glucose was lowest in stressed rats and highest in controls. Hypoglycemic changes were more marked in stressed rats that developed ulcers than in stressed rats that did not develop ulcers.