Variations in the Release of the NH₂-Terminal Fragment of Gastrin-17 in the Course of Duodenal Ulcer Disease

Abstract

Fasting and meal-stimulated NH₂-terminal gastrin concentrations in serum were significantly higher in patients with active duodenal ulcer than in control subjects and in patients with inactive duodenal ulcer (p <0.05). In contrast, the COOH-terminal gastrin concentrations (the bioactive gastrins) did not differ among the groups. Parallel variation in the NH₂-and COOH-terminal gastrin concentrations occurred both during meal stimulation and as response to adrenalin or secretin infusion. In a longitudinal study of duodenal ulcer patients, higher NH₂-than COOH-terminal gastrin concentrations were associated with the active phase of the disease, whereas this seldom occurred during the inactive phase (p <0.001). These data suggest that abnormally large amounts of the NH₂-terminal fragment of gastrin-17 are released to the circulation during the active phase of duodenal ulcer.

Key words:

• Key words: Adrenalin
• duodenal ulcer
• gastrin
• NH₂-terminal gastrin-17 fragment
• secretin