The factors that frequently cause the development of acute gastric mucosal lesions (AGML) were studied in 37 mongrel dogs. Bacterial shock was induced by bolus injection of E. coli live bacterial flora (10(10) cells/kg body weight) under parietal cell-stimulated condition by intravenous administration of 0.008 mg/kg per hour of pentagastrin. In addition, 0.01 mg/kg per hour of neostigmine sulfate was administered intravenously during the experiment. Frequent development of AGML was observed in the neostigmine-administered canines without significant changes in the gastric corporal and antral tissue blood flow. In the neostigmine-administered group, AGML was observed in the antrum, although in the other group AGML was mostly observed in the corpus. These results suggest that a neostigmine-induced systemic vagostimulated condition by intravenous administration of neostigmine plays an important role in the development of AGML in dogs subjected to bacterial shock.