Continuous monitoring of gastric movements in rats subjected to restraint.

Gastric motility was recorded continuously by strain gage technique in two groups of animals, subjected to 24 hours' restraint. Ten rats served as control and 10 were pretreated with 100 mg/kg of cimetidine. The electric signals, produced by gastric movements, were recorded by a tape recorder and were then further analysed by a computer. In order to make comparison between the two groups of animals a precise quantitative analysis of gastric movements was performed by using different computer programs. Three parameters of recordings (frequency, size of contractions and area under the waves) have been used to characterize the curves. It was established that there was no essential difference in the two experimental groups concerning the gastric motility pattern. Brisk gastric movements could be recorded during the whole period of restraint. It may be concluded that increased gastric movements may not play an important role in the pathogenesis of stress-induced mucosal lesions and that cimetidine exerts its anti-ulcer effect via other mechanisms than influencing gastric motility.