Stimuli for heptadecapeptide gastrin release: a comparison of oral and intravenous arginiine-monochloride and oxo in normal, vagotomized and antrectomized patients.

Arginine, administered intravenously, was a more potent stimulus to gastrin release than oral Oxo-feeding, while oral arginine failed to elicit a response in normal subjects. Intravenous arginine stimulated a rise in serum gastrin only in normal subjects but not in antrectomized or vagotomized patients. The gastric antrum appears to be the major site of production of heptadecapeptide gastrin and 'mini' gastrin, as measured by the anti-serum used in our radio-immunoassay.