Central nervous system immunoreactive somatostatin, substance P and metenkephalin concentrations in experimental hepatic encephalopathy in the rat.

Immunoreactive somatostatin, substance P and met-enkephalin concentrations were measured in various regions of the rat brain 65 hours after portacaval shunt and compared with concentrations in sham-operated animals. No significant difference was detected in any of the three peptides in the regions studied, suggesting that these peptides do not play a role ion the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy.