Hirschowitz_1987_J.Pharmacol.Exp.Ther_243_501

To determine possible sites and mechanisms of action of somatostatin (SS) in gastric secretory mucosa, secretion of pepsin, H+, Cl-, Na+ and K+ was stimulated in conscious fistula dogs by i.v. infusion of bethanechol, pentagastrin and histamine in the absence and presence of SS-14. At low dose (0.5 micrograms or 300 pmol/kg/h), SS-14 potently inhibited H+ and pepsin stimulated by bethanechol (80 micrograms/kg/h) to less than 5% of control; it required 2 micrograms or 1200 pmol/kg/h of SS-14 to achieve similar inhibition of pentagastrin (1.5 micrograms/kg/h)-stimulated secretion. In both cases, gastric [K+] was depressed by SS-14 infusion and recovered before H+ and pepsin. Similar sensitivity to SS suggests a Ca++-dependent mechanism or pathway of stimulation by gastrin similar to that by cholinergic agonists. By contrast, histamine, which acts via cyclic AMP pathways, was not inhibited by a large dose of SS-14 (20 micrograms/kg/h). SS inhibition is thus agonist (or pathway)- rather than organ- or cell-specific.