CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PHYSIOLOGY OF GASTRIC SECRETION.—II. THE INTESTINAL PHASE OF GASTRIC SECRETION

¹ Hull Physiological Laboratory, the University of Chicago

1. The pouch of the entire stomach secretes gastric juice after a latent period of from one to three hours when a mixed meal is ingested and enters the intestine directly.

2. The intestinal phase of gastric secretion is due to the action of the products (e.g. peptone, amino-acids, and amines) of digested complex food substances and not apparently to the food in its raw state (meat, carbohydrates, and neutral fat).

3. Water in the intestine stimulates, but not invariably. Whether or not it stimulates depends in part on the degree of thirst and the time since the last meal. The mechanism concerned is discussed.

4. Gastric secretion may be stimulated from the intestine by a non-absorbable substance, namely, 0.5 per cent. saponin solution. The influence of changes in surface tension on the mechanism of stimulation and inhibition is considered.

5. Our observations definitely disprove the specific pyloric or gastrin theory as originally stated by Edkins. A vascular hypothesis is tentatively suggested to explain the mechanism of intestinal stimulation.

6. Our results finally demonstrate that the intestine as a pathway for the stimulation of the gastric glands must be considered in an analysis of the factors concerned in the genesis of gastric secretion. In short, the existence of an intestinal phase is proved.