Gastric Secretory Response to Various Amounts of Food (Dose-Response Curve)

¹ From the Department of Clinical Science, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

Evidence was obtained showing that in making comparative studies on gastric secretion the glands should be secreting no free acid. In the Heidenhain pouch dogs there was an optimum sized meal for an optimum secretory response during the first hour, more secretion having been obtained with a 300 gm. meal than a 900 gm. meal. The time of the occurrence of the peak of the hourly secretory output was related to the size of the meal in the Heidenhain and the transplanted (Ivy) pouch dog. A definite sigmoid dose-response curve was obtained in the dog with a transplanted pouch. In two Heidenhain pouch dogs a complete sigmoid dose-response curve was not obtained because with a large meal of 900 gm. the voluntary volumetric capacity of the main stomach was reached before the secretory capacity of the pouch was approached. A complete sigmoid curve could be obtained only with a small Heidenhain pouch. In the linear portion of the dose-response curve in both types of pouches doubling the size of the meal roughly doubled the secretory response.