The effect of stress induced experimental gastric ulcers on enterochromaffin cells and on serotonin and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid levels in stomach and duodenum of the white rat.

In rats subjected to acute or protracted stress of immobilization, gastric and duodenal mucosae were monitored for presence of ulcers and their enterochromaffin cells were examined, identifying them with the use of anti-serotonin antibodies and PAP technique. In parallel, serotonin and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid levels in the stomach and duodenum were estimated. Ulcers developed only in the stomach and exclusively in stress-unadapted animals. Development of ulcers was paralleled by enterochromaffin cell degranulation, decrease in serotonin levels, and increase in 5-hydroxyindolacetic levels in both the stomach and the duodenum. Significance of the findings for contemporary hypothesis of gastric ulcers' pathogenesis was discussed.