Constituents of lymph from the non-secreting stomach of the dog.

Gastric lymph collected from the non-secreting stomach of anesthetized dogs contained glucose, Na+, K+ and creatine phosphokinase in concentrations that were similar to those in arterial and gastric venous plasma. Gastric lymph contained greater concentrations of pyruvate and lactate than in either arterial or gastric venous blood. Gastric lymph contained a high concentration of total protein similar to that in simultaneously collected hepatic lymph. Gastric lymph was collected before and after the pylorus was ligated and the stomach distended with air. These procedures were used in another study in which total protein in gastric lymph was reported to be much lower than found in the present study. The lymph to plasma ratio for protein was decreased from 0.85 +/- .04 to 0.69 +/- .04. Pyloric ligation alone caused no change in lymph protein concentration.