Abstract
Fogelson 1 and Atkinson 2 have observed clinically that the administration of “gastric mucin” to gastro-duodenal ulcer patients was followed by a relief of the ulcer symptoms and an increase of body weight. Kim and Ivy 3 found that one ounce of “gastric mucin” a day prevented the occurrence of duodenal ulcer in biliary fistula dogs, in which the incidence of duodenal ulcer is from 40% 4 to 60%, 5 and that the animals on “gastric mucin” maintained their body weight much better than the control dogs not receiving mucin. It is well known that the administration of alkaline powders is of benefit in the management of patients with gastro-duodenal ulcer. We desired to ascertain if the administration of alkaline powders would have the same effect as “gastric mucin” in preventing the occurrence of duodenal ulcers and in maintaining body weight in biliary fistula dogs.
Ten healthy dogs were used in each series. The biliary fistula was made according to the method of Rous and McMaster. 6 All the animals were kept in single cages and were fed a stock diet of cooked yellow corn meal, bone soup and bread with mucin or alkali twice a day. The dose of “mucin” was 15 gm. with each meal. The dose of alkaline powder consisted of 1 gm. each of sodium bicarbonate and calcium carbonate with each meal. This dose of alkali was used because it has a slightly greater “buffering action” than 15 gm. of the “mucin” used in these experiments. All of the animals showed an absence of bile in the feces during life and in the stomach and duodenal contents immediately after being sacrificed. They secreted daily from 5 to 15 cc. of bile per kilo body weight, which is “normal” for biliary fistula dogs. 3
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