Viscosity of gastric mucus in duodenal ulceration.

A preliminary study of the rheological behaviour of visible gastric mucus in patients with duodenal ulcer and in controls indicates that duodenal ulceration is associated with an increase in the viscosity of visible gastric mucus. The methods of measuring the viscosity of gastric mucin are described and the limitations of simple capillary viscometry are discussed. Several theories are advanced which may account for the findings described in this investigation.