Abstract
The following study was planned to throw some light upon the mechanism by which hydrochloric acid is secreted by the stomach. The serum electrolytes of the arterial and of the venous bloods from the stomach were determined before and during gastric secretion in dogs under amytal anesthesia, histamine being used to stimulate secretion. Venous blood from the acid producing portion of the organ was obtained from the coronary vein. The total base was determined by a modification of Fisk's urine method. The anions are expressed in millimols of base combining capacity, assuming a ratio of primary to secondary phosphate of 1 to 4, and calculating the base combined with protein by a formula determined by Van Slyke. The difference between the total determined acids and the total base is taken as representing the organic acid fraction though it contained the small amount of sulfate which was not estimated.
In studies in this laboratory on human subjects it has been shown that during hydrochloric acid secretion the chloride concentration of the gastric juice continues, as in the fasting condition, to be about the same order of magnitude as in serum, but that there is a decrease in base proportional to the increase in free hydrochloric acid. This is similar to the observations of Gamble and McIver 1 on dogs. If chloride ions and water are thus secreted at about the same rate little change in the concentration of chloride in the serum from the secreting stomach would be expected. The accompanying table shows clearly that this assumption is correct; there is never more than a slight fall in chloride. But, as water and chloride ions are secreted there is a retention of base, thus liberating free hydrochloric acid.
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