The relationship between cyclic AMP production and the response of isolated canine parietal cells to histamine has been examined. Histamine increased cyclic AMP generation, and this effect correlated with histamine stimulation of oxygen consumption and aminopyrine accumulation. Metiamide inhibited histamine-stimulated cyclic AMP generation and oxygen consumption in a parallel fashion. At concentrations below 100 microM, isobutyl AMP production and oxygen consumption in a similar fashion. However, with IMX above 100 microM, histamine caused no further increases in oxygen consumption, despite markedly enhanced cyclic AMP generation. Neither carbachol nor gastrin increased cyclic AMP production beyond that produced by IMX alone, and the combinations of histamine and carbachol and of histamine and gastrin produced no greater cyclic AMP generation than produced by histamine. These findings support a close relationship between cyclic AMP production and the action of histamine but not of carbachol or gastrin on isolated parietal cells. The mechanisms underlying the potentiating interactions between histamine, carbachol, and gastrin involve step(s) beyond stimulation of cyclic AMP generation.

A patient with acute necrosis of the intestinal mucosa and high serum diamine oxidase activity is described. The 71-year-old woman, with a history of hypertension and cardiovascular and peripheral arteriosclerotic disease, presented with acute epigastric pain, vomiting, and a deteriorating hemodynamic condition. Serum level of the intestinal enzyme diamine oxidase (DAO) obtained on admission, approximately 24 hr after the onset of symptoms, was 7.4 times above the normal value. An exploratory laparotomy performed 6 hr later revealed cyanosis and areas of transmural necrosis involving the entire small bowel. The bowel was not resected because of the extent of lesion. Thirty hours after the first sample was taken and 2 hr before death, the serum DAO level was only slightly above normal. It is suggested that this biochemical marker could provide a valuable tool for the early diagnosis of intestinal ischemia.

Diamine oxidase is continuously released from the intestinal mucosa and carried to the circulation by the lymphatics. The effect of nutrients on this release was examined. Rats were prepared with duodenal and intestinal lymph cannulas. Test mixtures of lipid emulsions containing triolein, oleic acid, or tricaprylin and solutions of carbohydrate and protein were infused into the duodenum. The enzyme release and triglyceride transport were determined and in some experiments were done in the presence and absence of Pluronic L-81, an inhibitor of chylomicron formation, and aminoguanidine, an inhibitor of diamine oxidase activity. The data indicate that nonlipid nutrients did not increase diamine oxidase activity in the intestinal lymph, but the mucosal tissue content was significantly reduced in the distal small intestine, particularly after protein infusion. Triglycerides and fatty acids increased diamine oxidase in the intestinal lymph, and the longer-chain triglyceride was more effective. Inhibition of triglyceride transport did not interfere with the enzyme release, and the inhibition of diamine oxidase activity had no significant effect on lipid absorption. According to our observations, only lipids increase intestinal lymph diamine oxidase. Nonfat nutrients appear to increase diamine oxidase in the intestinal lumen. Diamine oxidase is not directly required for lipid absorption.

Cyclic AMP production was studied in isolated canine fundic gastric mucosal cells. Histamine, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and secretin increased cyclic AMP production by unenriched mucosal cells. In separated cell fractions, histamine stimulation of cyclic AMP production correlated with the parietal cell content of the fractions. Secretin in concentrations above 1 nM stimulated cyclic AMP production, and this effect correlated with the pepsinogen content of the separated cell fractions. At concentrations above 1 microM, PGE2 stimulated cyclic AMP production; this effect was found in all separated cell fractions and was not associated with any of the available cell markers. PGE2 stimulation of cyclic AMP production was, however, negatively correlated with the parietal cell content. Thus, histamine stimulated cyclic AMP production by parietal cells and secretin stimulated production of cyclic AMP by chief cells. PGE2 stimulation of cyclic AMP production could not be localized to a single cell type but occurred primarily in nonparietal cells.

A B S T R A C T Prostaglandins (PGEi, PGE2, PGA1) and histamine have opposing effects on gastric HCl secretion, but we found that both stimulate adenylate cyclase activity in cell-free membrane preparations of guinea pig gastric fundic mucosa. The stimulatory effect of prostaglandins was found in this study to be specific and dose-dependent over a concentration range from 10' to 10-' M. In similar preparations from antral regions of guinea pig gastric mucosa, the adenylate cyclase was stimulated only by PGE1, PGE2, and PGA1 and not by histamine. Maximum stimulating doses of PGE,, PGE2, or PGAi, and of histamine had an additive effect on the adenylate cyclase activity from fundic gastric mucosa. Metiamide, a histamine H2-receptor antagonist, inhibited the stimulation of fundic mucosa adenylate cyclase by histamine but did not interfere with the stimulation by prostaglandins. Cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase activity of guinea pig gastric mucosa was unaffected by PGE, and PGE2 or by histamine, and was slightly depressed by PGAi. These results indicate that histamine and prostaglandins stimulate two different adenylate cyclase systems both present in guinea pig gastric mucosa tissue. Therefore, the known inhibitory effect of prostaglandins on gastric acid secretion is not related to the interference with the stimulation of the histamine H2-receptor-sensitive adenylate cyclase complex by histamine nor do prostaglandins accelerate cyclic AMP This work was presented in part at the