EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE ROLE OF DOPAMINE IN STRESS ULCER

Abstract

Dopamine has been recognized not only as a precursor of norepinephrine but also as a neurotransmitter playing a part of the role itself. Inorder to explore the mechanism of stress ulcer from the viewpoint of dopamine, the authors inflicted restrained and water-immersion stress on control rats and measured gastric mucosal norepinephrine and dopamine content. The latter increased about 2 fold 8hr after stress, although the former decreased. Exogenous dopamine administration of 10μg/kg/min brought about increased gastric mucosal blood flow, depressed gastric motility, decreased gastric acid output, and depression of ulcer formation after stress. As a result, it was concluded that dopamine has a significant role in the mechanism by which stress ulcer is formed.