BACKGROUND Scant data exist on the normal range of serum gastrin in infants. In phase I and III trials of rabeprazole in gastroesophageal reflux disease, we studied serum gastrin levels in infants 1 to 11 months old, and assessed normal ranges and the effect of acid-suppressive drugs. METHODS Overall, 349 treatment-naïve or treatment-experienced (previously exposed to proton pump inhibitors a...

It has been recently shown that gastric cancer patients have higher circulating gastrin levels than control subjects (Rakic et al., 1991). We measured fasting serum gastrin in patients with gastric cancer in an attempt to define whether any difference could be demonstrated according to the histologic type of tumour. The study population consisted of 61 patients with histologically proven gastri...

The number of gastrin-producing cells in biopsy specimens from the gastric and duodenal mucosae in 19 duodenal ulcer patients was quantitated using a morphometric method. The level of immunoreactive gastrin in a sample of fasting serum obtained at the time of the biopsy was measured by radioimmunoassay. The results show no significant difference when compared with those from a group of normal c...

The hormone gastrin physiologically regulates gastric acid secretion and also contributes to maintaining gastric epithelial architecture by regulating expression of genes such as plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 (PAI-2) and regenerating protein 1 (Reg1). Here we examine the role of proteasome subunit PSMB1 in the transcriptional regulation of PAI-2 and Reg1 by gastrin, and its subcellular dist...

1. Studies of Helicobacter pylori show that microbes can alter gastrin release. Lack of gastric acid (achlorhydria) causes hypergastrinaemia and allows bacteria to grow within the stomach. We speculated that the bacteria contribute to the rise in gastrin seen after acid inhibition, and tested the idea by comparing plasma gastrin levels during inhibition of acid secretion between germ-free and c...

The history of gastrin began in 1905 when Edkins observed than an extract of gastric antral mucosa proved to have extraordinary potency in stimulating gastric acid secretion. Approximately 60 years later gastrin was isolated and characterised by Gregory and Tracy (1964). It is composed of a single peptide chain of 17 amino-acids (G17) with a molecular weight of 2100. Two forms of gastrin, I and...

Gastrin, a potent stimulator of gastric acid secretion, primarily targets the acid-secreting parietal cells and histamine-secreting enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cells in the stomach. Accordingly, gastrin-deficient (GAS-KO) mice have a severe impairment in acid secretion. The aim of this study was to characterize changes in gene expression in GAS-KO mice to identify gastrin-regulated genes and to...

High basal gastrin levels in pure autonomic failure could result from peripheral vagus nerve involvement, whereas the increased response during hypoglycaemia may reflect adrenergic supersensitivity. A reduced gastrin increment in multiple system atrophy was found following insulin-hypoglycaemia and is consistent with decreased gastrin release secondary to diminished central sympathetic nervous ...

Salt-inducible kinase 1 (SIK1/Snf1lk) belongs to the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) family of kinases, all of which play major roles in regulating metabolism and cell growth. Recent studies have shown that reduced levels of SIK1 are associated with poor outcome in cancers, and that this involves an invasive cellular phenotype with increased metastatic potential. However, the molecular mech...

Gastrin/CCK-B receptors (CCKB-Rs) are present on parietal and enterochromaffin-like cells in the gastric mucosa but not on pit cells in the proliferative zone. Because serum gastrin levels are well correlated with the growth of the gastric pit, we examined whether pit precursor cells express CCKB-Rs using hypergastrinemic transgenic mice and a mouse pit precursor cell line, GSM06. In situ hybri...