Endogenous somatostatin inhibits histamine release from canine gastric mucosal cells in primary culture.

The effects of somatostatin on histamine release were studied using primary cultures of canine oxyntic mucosal cells in which mast cell content was reduced by density gradient. The S6 monoclonal antibody to somatostatin, but not control antibodies, enhanced gastrin-stimulated histamine release. In the presence of S6, the somatostatin analogue SMS-201-995 (10(-7) M) inhibited gastrin-stimulated histamine release by 95%. The dose producing 50% inhibition for this inhibition was approximately 3 x 10(-10) M and was completely reversed by pertussis toxin treatment. In contrast to somatostatin, epinephrine failed to inhibit this gastrin stimulation. However, the lectin concanavalin A (ConA) also stimulated histamine release from these cultures, and this response was inhibited by epinephrine but not by somatostatin. Thus somatostatin selectively inhibited the gastrin-responsive histamine pool, which presumably is stored in oxyntic mucosal endocrine cells. In contrast, epinephrine selectively inhibits histamine release from the ConA-sensitive pool, which is presumably stored in mast cells. Furthermore, enhancement of gastrin-stimulated histamine release by immunoneutralization of somatostatin indicates an important role for endogenous somatostatin as a paracrine inhibitor of non-mast cell histamine release.