Pancreatic Secretion in the Rat

¹ From the Veterans Administration Center and the Departments of Medicine and Physiology, University of California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California

Observations have been made on male rats weighing 300–400 gm surgically prepared for total diversion of pancreatic juice to the exterior through a polyethylene cannula. While subsisting on dextrose-saline solution the rate of pancreatic secretion was about 0.15 ml/hr. in the immediate postcannulation period and rose by the 2nd day to a stable level of about 0.60 ml/hr. which persisted for at least 6 days. Rate of secretion was increased by feeding but not by introduction of stimulants such as HCl into the duodenum. Intravenous injection of secretin caused an increase in rate of secretion the magnitude of which varied with the dose of secretin. When the pancreas was made to secrete against a column of fluid 10 cm high the rate of secretion was unaltered.