The Effect of Hypertonic Saline on the Uptake of Tritiated 7,12-Dimethylbenz(a)anthracene by the Gastric Mucosa

Abstract

Capoferro, R. & Torgersen, O. The effect of hypertonic saline on the uptake of tritiated 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene by the gastric mucosa. Scand. J. Gastroent. 1974, 9, 343-349.

The stomach of pylorus-ligated rats and guinea-pigs was rinsed with 0.15 M or 2 M saline before and two hours after intragastric instillation of tritiated 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthranccne (DMBA). The uptake of radioactivity by the gastric wall was measured by liquid scintillation counting. In rats, the radioactivity of the forestomach was more than ten times higher than that of the glandular stomach. In both rats and guinea-pigs the radioactivity tended to decrease from the fundus to the antrum. Rinsing the stomach with 2 M saline two hours after instillation of ³H-DMBA reduced the PAS-stained mucus as well as the radioactivity of the gastric wall. This may indicate that gastric mucus binds DMBA and that hypertonic saline washes the mucus away. Rinsing the sornach with 2 M saline before instillation of ³H-DMBA caused an increased uptake. This observation may be of significance with regard to the pathogenesis of stomach cancer, since earlier epidemiologic studies have pointed to a high consumption of salted food in populations with high incidence of this disease.

Key-words::

• DMBA
• gastric absorption
• gastric cancer
• hypertonic solutions
• mucous barrier
• mucus
• salted food