Plasma gastrin and pancreatic polypeptide response to atropine and sham feeding in man.

We studied the effects of atropine, both in the basal state and after stimulation by modified sham feeding (MSF), and the effect of MSF alone, on the plasma gastrin and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) responses in 8 healthy human subjects. Atropine 1 mg in the basal state had no effect on the plasma gastrin concentrations but led to significant decrease in plasma PP concentrations. Plasma gastrin response to MSF was negligible but increased by atropine. The plasma PP level was markedly increased by MSF, and was antagonized by atropine. This study shows that the release of plasma PP during basal state and after MSF is under the control of the vagal-cholinergic mechanism, but plasma gastrin is controlled by a different mechanism.