A difference in stimulatory effects on pancreatic exocrine secretion between ursodeoxycholate and trypsin inhibitor in the rat.

We previously reported that intraduodenally infused ursodeoxycholate produced hypersecretion of pancreas in bicarbonate and fluid secretion in the rabbit (Digestive Diseases and Sciences, 28:942, 1983). Since trypsin inhibitor stimulates pancreatic secretion in the rat whose pancreatic exocrine secretion is regulated by a luminal feedback mechanism, in the present study we examined the stimulatory effect of ursodeoxycholate in comparison to Trasylol in unanesthetized rats with both the presence and the absence of returning bile-pancreatic juice. Under the condition in which bile-pancreatic juice were continuously returned to the intestine, the intraduodenally infused ursodeoxycholate produced significant increases in juice flow and bicarbonate and protein outputs, while Trasylol significantly increased protein output only. After an 8- to 10-hr period of bile-pancreatic juice diversion, Trasylol no longer affected pancreatic secretion, whereas ursodeoxycholate still stimulated the bicarbonate output significantly. Trypsin activities in the proximal half of the small intestine were not decreased by the infusion of UDCA. The mechanism of stimulatory effect of ursodeoxycholate on pancreatic secretion is independent of luminal feedback regulation and appears to differ from that of trypsin inhibitor.