1 The aim of this study was to determine the location and functional characteristics of the somatostatin (SRIF) receptor type(s) which mediate inhibition of acid secretion in rat isolated gastric mucosa.2 Gastrin (1 nM-i Mm), dimaprit (10 pM-300 gM) and isobutyl methylxanthine (IBMX, 1 MM-100 gM) all caused concentration-dependent increases in acid output. Responses to gastrin were almost completely inhibited by ranitidine (10 gM) at a concentration which abolished the secretory response to dimaprit. In contrast, responses to IBMX were not changed by ranitidine suggesting that IBMX acts directly on the parietal cell and not indirectly by releasing histamine from enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells. 3 SRIF-14 (1 nM-Mm) had no effect on basal acid output, but inhibited acid output produced by gastrin, dimaprit and IBMX in a concentration-dependent manner with respective ECm values of 46, 54 and 167 nM. The peptidase inhibitors, amastatin (10 gM) and phosphoramidon (1 gM), had no effect on SRIF-induced inhibition of dimaprit stimulated gastric acid secretion. 4 The inhibitory effect of a range of SRIF analogues on gastrin-, dimaprit-and IBMX-induced acid secretion was also studied. Irrespective of the secretagogue used to increase acid output, the rank order of potencies was similar (BIM-23027 = seglitide = octreotide> SRIF-14= SRIF-28 > L-362,855). The linear peptide BIM-23056 was devoid of agonist or antagonist activity in concentrations up to 1 MM. 5 The sst2 receptor selective peptides, BIM-23027, seglitide and octreotide were the most potent inhibitors of gastrin-, dimaprit-and IBMX-induced acid secretion suggesting that SRIF receptors resembling the recombinant sst2 receptors are involved. Furthermore, since dimaprit and IBMX stimulate gastric acid secretion independently of histamine release, sst2 receptor-mediated inhibition must occur at the level of the parietal cell itself.