Influence of jejunal hypertonic glucose infusion on sham-feeding-stimulated gastric acid secretion: evidence of a defective mechanism in duodenal ulcer patients.

The aims of the present study were to determine in 14 healthy subjects and 14 duodenal ulcer patients the reproducibility of the acid secretory response to a modified sham-feeding test and the effect on this response of intrajejunal hypertonic glucose instillation, in order to evaluate the possibility of the existence of a defective inhibition of the cephalic phase of gastric acid secretion in duodenal ulcer disease. The reproducibility of the acid secretory response to a modified sham-feeding test was demonstrated in both groups in two consecutive tests. The hypertonic glucose instillation produced a significant inhibition of the acid secretory response to modified sham feeding only in the healthy subjects, suggesting that duodenal ulcer patients may have a defective mechanism of acid inhibition during vagal stimulation by modified sham feeding. Non-significant changes were observed in plasma gastrin and pancreatic glucagon levels.