Abstract. The receptors in the fundic mucosa that mediate gastrin stimulation of acid secretion have been studied. Synthetic human gastrin-17-I (G17) with a leucine substitution in the 15th position ([Leu'5]

A technique for quantitating bacteria in isolated pilosebaceous follicles is described. This involves microdissection of the follicles from biopsies of skin, using the method of chemical pretreatment of skin to facilitate the separation of the epidermis and epidermal appendages from the dermis. The aerobic cocci and anaerobic diphtheroids in pilosebaceous follicles in 66 biopsies of scalp and 48 biopsies of skin of the upper back were quantitated using this technique. On the back, aerobic staphylococci were very sparse in normal follicles, indicating that their primary habitat on the skin must be on the skin surface rather than within follicles. Of 138 isolated follicles from skin of the upper back, 94 contained no aerobic cocci. Anaerobic organisms were present in high numbers within normal follicles. The geometric mean density of anaerobes in 138 isolated follicles from skin of the upper back was 3.8 X 10(4) diphtheroids per follicle. Eighty-eight follicles contained more than 10(4) anaerobic diphtheroids. Using data from scalp biopsies we found that there was a correlation between the weight of sebaceous glands and the density of anaerobes within the follicles attached to these glands (coefficient of correlation = 0.6).

Previous studies indicated that gastrin-17 (G-17) and the octapeptide of colecystokinin (CCK-8) were equally potent in their interaction with receptors for 125I-[Leu15]G-17 on isolated canine parietal cells. These findings were inconsistent with the poor efficacy of CCK-8 compared with G-17 as stimuli of acid secretion in dogs. The present study examines the effects of G-17 and CCK-8 on the release of somatostatinlike immunoreactivity (SLI) from a fraction of small canine fundic mucosal cells separated by elutriation and placed in short-term culture. CCK-8 was considerably more potent and more effective than G-17 as a stimulant of SLI release from these cultured cells. CCK-8 was slightly more potent than G-17 in inhibiting 125I-[Leu15]G-17 binding to receptors in the same elutriator fraction. Our present findings support the hypothesis that the poor efficacy of CCK compared with G-17 as a stimulant of acid secretion may reflect pronounced activation of somatostatin-mediated acid-inhibitory mechanisms by CCK-8. The present data indicate that differences in affinity between CCK-8 and G-17 at the 125I[Leu15]G-17 receptor probably do not account for the greater efficacy of CCK-8; the receptor or cell activation mechanisms underlying this greater efficacy of CCK-8 on SLI release remain to be elucidated.

To study the regulation of pepsinogen secretion by chief cells, we have developed techniques for the isolation, enrichment, and short-term culture of chief cells from canine stomach. The fundic mucosa was enzyme dispersed and chief cells were enriched to a content of about 70% using an elutriator rotor. After 36 h in culture confluent monolayers formed that were highly enriched in chief cells. Carbachol induced a time-dependent release of pepsinogen into the medium, with about a threefold increase in pepsinogen secretion over controls found after 60 min of incubation. Carbachol stimulation of pepsinogen secretion was dose dependent, with 5 microM producing 50% of the maximal response found at a carbachol concentration of 100 microM. Atropine (100 microM) produced a rightward shift of the dose-response curve, indicating the presence of a muscarinic receptor. Dibutyryl cAMP, 8-bromo-cAMP, and forskolin also markedly stimulated pepsinogen secretion. Secretin and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) stimulated pepsinogen secretion, but the response were of smaller magnitude than found with carbachol or the cAMP analogues. The phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobutylmethylxanthine also caused a small stimulation of pepsinogen secretion but did not enhance the response to secretin or VIP. These findings indicate that epithelial monolayers can spontaneously form from isolated canine chief cells and retain functional differentiation evident by a response to stimulation. Canine chief cells in culture possess muscarinic and secretin receptors and respond to cAMP.