MUCUS, ACID AND WATER SECRETION IN THE STOMACH FOLLOWING THE INJECTION OF PILOCARPINE

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Abstract
Pilocarpine, when injected subcut. in adequate dosage into the stomach pouch dogs, stimulated the flow of gastric HC1 and fluid in amts. comparable with those evoked by histamine. The secretory-time curves were generally irregular but were characterized by relatively long latent periods and total durations of response after a single injn. Adm. of pilocarpine was accompanied also by the secretion of gastric mucus in considerable quantity, especially when the continuous collection technique (with a catheter in situ throughout the expt.) was employed. The rate of secretion, however, did not differ materially from that of the "spontaneous" secretion of mucus in acid-free pouches. Furthermore, a major part of this mucus-secretory activity was eliminated when the retention technique was used for collecting the pouch contents (in the absence of a solid collecting device), thus demonstrating the mechanical (in contradistinction to direct pharmacological) origin of the mucus which is ordinarily evoked by this stimulus. Evidence from other laboratories indicates also that a considerable part of the mucus is squeezed out from the surface epithelial cells by the muscular activity induced by the pilocarpine, even in the absence of rubbing by a foreign body. Hence it is questionable whether any of the mucus-secretory activity is induced by direct action of the pilocarpine at the neuro-glandular junction. High dosages of the drug (0.5-1.0 mg./kg.) induced restlessness, salivation, mucosal bleeding, vomiting and defecation. Oozing of blood in the pouch occurred to a greater extent in the continuous collection expts. than in those performed by the retention technique. This investigation gives further evidence of the importance of the retention technique for certain kinds of quantitative investigations of gastric secretion.

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