Lysolecithin and glyceroglucolipids in gastric secretion of patients with gastric and duodenal ulcer.

Basal and pentagastrin-stimulated gastric secretions, collected (at 15-min intervals for 1 h) from six duodenal ulcer and six gastric ulcer patients, were analyzed for their content of lecithin, lysolecithin, and glyceroglucolipids. Whereas the glyceroglucolipid concentrations and the molar ratios of lysolecithin to lecithin (2.5:1) in basal and stimulated secretions from patients with duodenal and gastric ulcer were similar, significant (p less than 0.01) differences were noted between these two groups with regard to the lysolecithin contents. The basal secretions of patients with duodenal ulcer contained about 4.5-fold less (204 mumol/l) of lysolecithin than those from patients with gastric ulcer (932 mumol/l). After pentagastrin stimulation, the lysolecithin concentrations in the secretion from duodenal ulcer patients rose slightly (to 212 mumol/l), whereas a twofold decrease (to 440 mumol/l) in lysolecithin was observed in the secretion from patients with gastric ulcer. Statistically significant correlation between concentrations of lysolecithin and glyceroglucolipids was only observed in basal (r = 0.85, p less than 0.05) and stimulated (r = 0.93, p less than 0.01) secretions from patients with gastric ulcer. It is concluded that high concentrations of lysolecithin in the secretion of gastric ulcer patients results in the weakening of the gastric mucosal barrier by depleting its glyceroglucolipid component.