Gastric and duodenal mucosal prostaglandin concentrations in gastric or duodenal ulcer disease: relationships with demographics, environmental, and histological factors, including Helicobacter pylori.

We measured gastric and duodenal mucosal prostaglandin concentrations in 69 patients with active or inactive duodenal or gastric ulcer disease and 26 non-ulcer controls. Each underwent endoscopy enabling us to obtain multiple biopsies from the gastric body and antrum and from the duodenal bulb and postbulbar duodenum for measurement of mucosal prostaglandin concentrations, as well as a single biopsy from each region for mucosal histology. Using a multivariate linear regression model, we found that neither gastric nor duodenal ulcer disease significantly affected gastric or duodenal mucosal prostaglandin concentrations. Mucosal prostaglandin concentrations were similar at the edge of the ulcer and in the adjacent non-ulcerated mucosa. Neither gender symptoms, smoking, use of H2-receptor antagonists, disease activity, nor Helicobacter pylori infection had an independent effect on mucosal prostaglandins in any region. Gastritis in the body of the stomach was associated with significantly higher prostaglandins, while older age was associated with significantly lower gastric and duodenal prostaglandins. Gastroduodenal mucosal prostaglandins are thus not altered in patients with active or inactive peptic ulcer disease, even when multiple demographic and histologic variables are taken into consideration.