Characterization of secretin release in response to food and intraduodenal administration of fat and hydrochloric acid.

The development and validation of a radioimmunoassay that detects release of secretin in plasma in response to low doses of secretagogues [intraduodenal HCl (0.033 meq/min); intraduodenal sodium oleate (0.04 mmol/min)] or an oral mixed meal in conscious dogs is described. Plasma secretin levels increased significantly (P less than 0.05) in response to an oral mixed meal in conscious dogs from a basal level of 4.0 to a peak level of 12.3 pg/ml at 15 min. Infusion of graded doses of HCl (2, 4, 8, 16, meq/hr for 30 min) intraduodenally in six dogs resulted in significant elevation of plasma secretin levels in a dose-dependent manner. The pancreatic bicarbonate and volume outputs correlated with the dosage of HCl administered and with the elevations in plasma secretin concentrations. Intraduodenal infusion of increasing doses of sodium oleate (2.4, 4.8, 9.6, and 19.2 mmol in 15-min periods) resulted in a significant (P less than 0.05) elevation of plasma levels of secretin.