The Effect of Tetragastrin on Gastric Emptying in Normal and Ulcer Subjects

Abstract

Effect of tetragastrin on gastric emptying was studied in 20 normal subjects and 14 patientswith gastric ulcer scar. All subjects were tested with following examinations:
1) Gastric analysis with intramuscular injection of tetragastrin 4γ/kg.
2) Gastric emptying test by the double sampling method after George and Mizuno, using 300ml of 5% glucose solution as a test meal, for 20 minutes.
3) Gastric emptying test, described in 2), added with intramuscular injection of tetragastrin2γ/kg at instillation of test meal. Thirteen of 20 normal subjects were additionarilytested with gastric emptying using 4γ/kg tetragastrin injection instead of 2γ/kg.
Results were as follows:
Tetragastrin generally delayed gastric emptying with mode of dose-response. It wassuggested that delay of gastric emptying by tetragastrin might be caused by its direct affectionto the gastric muscles.
In hyposecretory cases with OAO less than 6mEq/h among normal subjects, stimulationof tetragastrin 2γ/kg rather accelerated gastric emptying. It was speculated that theduodenal brake mechanism could be important in control of gastric emptying.
In hyposecretory cases among patients with gastric ulcer scar, there were a few caseswho showed delay of gastric emptying by injection of tetragastrin 2γ/kg. Duodenal brakemight etiologically reffer to gastric ulcer.