Acid secretion in the bile duct-ligated pig.

Bile duct ligation is associated with severe gastric ulceration in the pig, but the pathogenesis is unknown. Gastric acid secretion was therefore studied before and after bile duct ligation in pigs with Heidenhain pouches. Basal pouch secretion and the response to submaximal pentagastrin stimulation incresed significantly 6--14 days after ligation of the common bile duct (P < 0,05). Bile duct ligation was not followed by gastric ulceration in the pigs in this study which had had, in effect, a 50--70% gastric resection in the course of fashioning the Heidenhain pouch. These observations suggest that oesophagogastric junction ulceration in pigs is associated with gastric acid hypersecretion.