Gastric acid-independent enhancement of exocrine pancreatic secretion by dietary protein in chronic bile-pancreatic juice diverted rats.

Diversion of bile-pancreatic juice (BPJ) causes exocrine pancreatic hypersecretion in a fasting state, and we demonstrated that a feeding of dietary protein stimulates further secretion of pancreatic enzymes in chronic BPJ-diverted rats. We determined that gastric acid secretion is associated with the stimulatory effect of dietary protein feeding on pancreatic secretion in the diverted rats. BPJ was diverted with a cannula of the common bile-pancreatic duct and returned to the upper ileum for 7 days. The BPJ-diverted rats were administered omeprazole (12 mg/kg body weight) orally and were fed a 25% casein, fat-free diet spontaneously under unrestrained conditions. The volume of BPJ was not changed after administration of omeprazole and feeding the diet. Total protein, amylase, and chymotrypsin secretions were not changed 1 h after omeprazole administration but increased gradually after feeding the diet. The secretion of these enzymes reached peak values 120-150 min after feeding, and these values were two- to threefold higher than those before feeding. We conclude that gastric acid secretion is not responsible for the stimulation of pancreatic secretion that occurs after feeding a dietary protein to chronic BPJ-diverted rats.