The temporary effect of proximal gastric vagotomy on experimental duodenal ulcers and gastric secretion.

A proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) prevented experimental duodenal ulcers in rats for only 5 days and thereafter all rats developed duodenal ulceration. In sham-operated rats the mean stimulated gastric acid output was 186 mumol/60 min. Immediately following a PGV there was a significant decrease in gastric juice volume and acidity (P less than 0.001) with a fall in the mean stimulated acid output to 12 mumol/60 min. On the seventh day after vagotomy the stimulated acid output (volume and concentration) significantly increased to 88 mumol/60 min (P less than 0.001). When the dose of gastric secretagogues was reduced by 50 per cent, a PGV on day 0 prevented any changes occurring in the duodenal mucosa, but when repeated at 4 weeks after a PGV the severity of duodenal ulcers in vagotomized rats was greater than in those having had a sham operation (P less than 0.05). This transient effect of a PGV on duodenal ulcerogenesis and gastric secretion may be due to recovery of the parietal cell mass.