Age-related differences in gastric acid secretion and response of gastric inhibitory polypeptide after oral glucose in male rats.

Effects of aging on the secretion of gastric acid and the response of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) and insulin after oral glucose were studied. Male rats with the age of 3 and 20 months (mo) were fasted overnight before anesthetization with pentobarbital (25 mg/kg BW, ip). The right jugular vein was catheterized for pentagastrin infusion. A PE-320 cannula was introduced into the stomach through an incision in the duodenum and was ligated about 0.5 cm from the pylorus. The stomach was flushed through the esophagus cannula via a peristaltic pump with 10 ml saline at room temperature and then irrigated with saline. Acid output was determined by titration of the flushed perfusate with 0.01 N NaOH to pH 7.0. Basal secretions were collected for 45 min before intravenous infusion of pentagastrin (0.5 microgram/kg/min) for 90 min, then for an addition 45 min. In another experiment, rats were fasted for 4 hours before an oral glucose load (3.2 g/kg). Blood samples were collected from each animal via a jugular catheter at -10, 0, 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, and 90 min following glucose ingestion. The concentrations of plasma GIP, insulin and triiodothyronine (T3) were measured by specific radioimmunoassays. The plasma T3 concentration was decreased in male rats during aging. Pentagastrin infusion stimulated gastric acid secretion in both old and young rats. The spontaneous gastric acid secretion in 20 mo rats was not significantly different from that in 3 mo rats. However, the secretion of gastric acid in response to pentagastrin was greater in 20 mo rats than in 3 mo rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)