The "Internal Leak" as a possible cause in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer.

In cat gastric mucosa stimulated with histamine and damaged by direct application of acetylsalicylic acid, the fluorescent dye acridine orange may be found outside the parietal cell. Normally it is distributed throughout, or bound to the limiting membrane of, the vesicles in the parietal cell. The special properties of this cationic dye in an acid environment, support the hypothesis that a so-called "internal leak" may possibly play an important role in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer.