Effect of a new synthetic prostaglandin on acid gastric secretion of different laboratory animals

Abstract A new synthetic E-type prostaglandin, namely the 16 S methyl-13-dehydro prostaglandin E 2 , was tested for its inhibitory activity on gastric secretion in conscious dogs and cats and anesthetized rats. When administered intravenously this compound was found to possess a striking inhibitory effect in the three animal species considered. Threshold doses ranged between 0.15 and 0.3 μg/kg and the effect was observed against different kinds of gastric secretagogues (pentagastrin, histamine, bethanecol, insulin etc.) and concerned both acid and pepsin output. Harmful side-effects were never observed even for amounts capable of inducing a complete block of gastric secretion. The interest of these observations is discussed.