title: Fasting and food-stimulated serum gastrin concentrations in relation to the antral G-cell population. A study in patients with peptic ulcer disease.
abstract: The fasting serum concentration and the first-hour serum gastric response to a protein-rich meal were related to the antral G-cell population in 14 patients with peptic ulcer. They were divided into a uremic (n=5) and non-uremic group (n=9). Fasting serum gastrin correlated significantly with the total antral G-cell mass only in the non-uremic patients who showed a relatively narrow transitional body-antrum zone. Conversely, the integrated serum gastric response was inversely related to the size of this zone in both groups of patients. A presumptive endocrine G-cell mass was estimated by subtracting the G cells in the transitional zone from the total antral G-cell population. Total gastrin output correlated positively with this estimated mass in the non-uremic group and in the material as a whole. Also, the integrated gastrin response was positively correlated with the presumptive endocrine G-cell mass in the whole material. It was concluded that G cells in the transitional body-antrum zone, where also parietal cells are present, do not release gastrin into the circulation during meal stimulation like G cells in the remaining part of the pyloric antrum. On the basis of these results and our previous morphological observations (19), we propose that the G cells in the transitional zone are involved in a paracrine interrelationship with the surrounding parietal cells rather than contributing to the circulating pool of gastrin.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002452:Cell Count; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D005750:Gastric Juice / Q000378:metabolism; D005755:Gastrins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011706:Pyloric Antrum / Q000166:cytology*; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D014511:Uremia / Q000150:complications
chemical_list: D005755:Gastrins