Acute effects of truncal vagotomy on gastric wall tissue gases in the dog.

Acute effects of truncal vagotomy on gastric wall tissue gases were studied in the dog by means of implanted Silastic tonometers. It was concluded that vagal denervation produces a significant fall of tissue PO2 in both corpus and antrum. Simultaneously, corpus PCO2 markedly decreases whereas antral PCO2 remains unchanged. The findings may be explained by a dual mechanism: reduced gastric blood flow and decreased metabolic activity in the parietal cell area. It is possible that reduction in CO2 accumulation decreases the supply of carbonic acid to the anhydrase system, thereby reducing the formation of hydrogen ions for acid production.