Gastric clearance of gastrin during acid secretory responses to vagal activation and its effect on peripheral gastrin levels. A study on anesthetized cats.

Gastrin release and gastric acid secretion were induced by electrical stimulation of the vagi in anesthetized cats. No correlation was found between the peripheral gastrin levels and the magnitudes of the concomitant secretory responses. In experiments in which a high rate of secretion was induced the peripheral gastrin levels were found to be unchanged or at most slightly elevated, whereas the levels were sometimes substantially elevated in animals in which there was little or no acid secretory response. An arterio-venous difference in gastrin levels was detected in the corpus blood during periods of gastric secretion. This clearance of gastrin (104-540 pg/min) was large enough to influence the peripheral gastrin levels. The mechanism behind and the significance of the gastric clearance of gastrin is discussed.