EFFECT OF ALTERNATING ACID AND ALKALINE DIGESTIVE FLUIDS ON THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT OF THE RAT.

Summary Previous experiments have demonstrated that exposure of a frog's leg alternately to acid-pepsin and alkaline pancreatic secretion produced rapid digestion of the leg. It was suggested that in man the rapid interchange between acid pepsin and alkaline trypsin solution in the duodenal bulb might play a role in peptic ulcer. For this reason, 5 kinds of perfusion from esophagus to ileum were conducted in rats. Alternating perfusion with acid pepsin and alkaline pancreatin (Group 3) had more marked effects in duodenum, jejunum, and ileum, than perfusion with acid pepsin alone (Group 2), or other perfusions (Group 1, 4, 5), for 90 minutes. Similar results were observed on cats and rabbits. The esophagus of the rat seemed to be more resistant to such perfusions than that of the cat. Changes of blood pH due to alternating perfusion with acid-alkaline enzyme solutions did not seem to affect the deleterious effects. While these results are suggestive of a role of alternation between gastric and pancreatic juice in ulcer disease, no conclusions concerning development of peptic ulcer can be drawn.