Vagal Tone on the Pancreatic Polypeptide Cell in Duodenal Ulcer Patients: Correction for Maximal and Minimal Secretory Capacity

Abstract

It has previously been suggested that pancreatic polypeptide (PP) might serve as an indicator of abdominal vagal tone in duodenal ulcer (DU) patients. In this investigation we have attempted to study the vagal tone on the PP cells by correcting the basal PP concentrations to the insulin-stimulated (maximal) and atropine-suppressed (minimal) PP responses, to correct for the PP cell mass. There was no statistically significant difference between either the directly measured basal PP concentrations or the basal PP concentrations correlated to maximal and minimal secretory capacity in 10 DU patients and 10 sex- and age-matched controls. The observations indicate that the vagal branches to the PP cells of DU patients do not have higher tone than those of normal subjects.

Key Words:

• Atropine
• duodenal ulcer
• hypoglycemia
• insulin
• pancreatic polypeptide
• vagus