Alpha 2-receptor-mediated inhibition of intraluminal release of gastric somatostatin in anaesthetized rats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate how the sympathetic nervous system affects the vagally induced intragastric release of somatostatin and gastrin. Experiments were performed on anaesthetized rats in which the stomach was perfused with a dextrane solution (pH approximately 5.9) or dextrane buffer (pH 7.4). pH as well as gastrin and somatostatin levels were measured in the gastric perfusate when it had passed the stomach. Vagal stimulation caused a decrease in perfusate pH and an increase of the intraluminal output of gastrin and somatostatin when the stomach was perfused with the dextrane solution pH 5.9. Pretreatment with phentolamine (1 mg kg-1) significantly increased and pretreatment with clonidine (60 micrograms kg-1 h-1) significantly decreased somatostatin release caused by vagal stimulation, whereas gastrin levels remained largely unchanged. The effect of clonidine persisted in rats pretreated with indomethacin (5 mg kg-1), which per se potentiates the vagally induced luminal somatostatin release. When the stomach was perfused with the dextrane buffer pH 7.4, basal gastrin levels were significantly higher than during perfusion with the solution pH 5.9, whereas somatostatin levels remained unchanged. Neither somatostatin nor gastrin levels increased following vagal stimulation during gastric perfusion with the dextrane buffer pH 7.4. However, following pretreatment with phentolamine somatostatin levels increased during these conditions.