Abstract
Recently, the authors, 1 in a study of the effects of jejunal transplants on gastric acidity, reported a reversal of the normal response to histamine as reflected in direct measurements of the pH of the mucosal surface of seven different regions of the stomach. The present report deals with the comparative effects of gastroenterostomy and a jejunal transplant upon this same factor.
Methods. A series of 6 dogs was operated upon and after determining the pH of the gastric mucosa by inserting the electrodes of the Beckman pH meter through an opening at the site of the future anastomosis, an anterior gastroenterostomy was performed. From one to 4 weeks later further pH determinations were made through a gastrotomy proximal to the gastroenterostomy stoma. Immediately thereafter the portion of the jejunum involved in the anastomosis was converted into a pedicle graft by dividing and inverting the bowel about 3 cm proximal and distal to the stoma and then restoring the continuity of the intestinal tract by end-to-end suture. Again, pH determinations were made at varying intervals after operation.
Results. In 5 out of 6 animals gastroenterostomy alone failed to prevent a marked diminution of the average pH of the mucosa of 7 different regions of the stomach following the injection of histamine. (Table I.) After conversion of the gastro-enterostomy to a jejunal graft, however, the normal response to histamine was reversed in all 6.
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