Hormonal control of the gastric motor response to feeding: cross-perfusion of an isolated stomach using a conscious donor dog.

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to determine the hormonal response of the gastric motor activity to a meal. A conscious donor dog was used to perfuse an isolated canine stomach placed in a chamber, using a pump‐oxygenator system for recirculation. Strain gauge transducers were used to record the motility of the isolated stomach. The donor dog was fed during the perfusion. An hour after the meal, the fed dog was replaced by a second fasted donor dog. Fasted motor activity in both the proximal and distal stomach was characterized by high‐amplitude contractions occurring in bursts every 10 minutes. After feeding, there was complete abolition of high‐amplitude contractions in the distal stomach in all 7 experiments. The proximal high‐amplitude contractions were abolished in 5 experiments, but were still present in 2, although the contractile pattern was irregular. When the fed dog was replaced by a fasted dog, characteristic fasting motor patterns were resumed in the isolated stomach. There was a delay of up to 17 minutes in the onset of both the postprandial changes in motility and the reappearance of fasted motor patterns. The changes in the motility pattern of the isolated stomach after feeding the donor dog point to a hormonal response.