Use of a five-day test to predict the long-term effects of gastric antisecretory agents on serum gastrin in rats.

It has been hypothesized that prolonged achlorhydria causes compensatory elevation of serum gastrin, and that there is an association in rats between sustained hypergastrinemia, hyperplasia of gastric enterochromaffin-like cells, and subsequent formation of gastric carcinoids in 2-year carcinogenicity studies. The present study examined whether daily administration of gastric antisecretory drugs in rats for 4 days could cause hypergastrinemia associated with inhibition of acid output. Rats were dosed orally for 4 days with the histamine H2-receptor antagonist ranitidine or the H+,K+-sensitive ATPase inhibitor omeprazole, and examined on day 5 for effects on gastric acid secretion and serum gastrin. Omeprazole (138 mg/kg/day significantly inhibited gastric acid secretion and increased serum gastrin levels. Large, single daily doses of ranitidine (1000-2000 mg/kg/day) had no effect on 24-hr acid or gastrin secretion; however, ranitidine did inhibit next-day acid secretion with associated increases in serum gastrin when administered in three divided doses. These results with ranitidine support the hypothesis that a sustained gastric antisecretory action will cause a compensatory hypergastrinemia, regardless of the antisecretory agent used. The ability to detect increased serum gastrin levels associated with inhibition of acid secretion, after administration of antisecretory agents for only 4 days, suggest that this short 5-day test may be useful for determining the potential of antisecretory agents to cause hypergastrinemia due to 24-hr inhibition of acid secretion and may be predictive of long-term hyperplastic changes.