Parietal and chief cell sensitivity to pentagastrin stimulation before and after cimetidine treatment for duodenal ulcer.

Gastric acid and pepsin output in response to 0.10 and 6.0 microgram . kg-1h-1 of pentagastrin was studied in ten duodenal ulcer patients before and after cessation of 6 weeks of cimetidine treatment, 1 g/day. Acid output in response to the low dose of pentagastrin was on average 63% of the response to the high dose before and on average 65% after treatment. The corresponding values for pepsin output were on average 88% both before and after treatment. Thus, the parietal and chief cell sensitivity stayed unchanged after cimetidine treatment. Mean maximal acid output decreased insignificantly, from 39.4 mmol/h before 34.9 mmol/h after cimetidine treatment. The results suggest an unchanged gastric acid and pepsin secretion capacity after short-term treatment with cimetidine for duodenal ulcer.