Gastrin and gastrointestinal disease.

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Gastrin and Gastrointestinal Disease SIR,-We were interested in your leading article on this topic (9 September, p. 604), but we think your statement that gastrin may affect intestinal motility needs qualification.In doses producing near-maximal gastric- acid secretion both gastrin and pentagastrin were found to stimulate motility in the gastric antrum, but no effect on colonic motor activity could be detected.1 2 As you point out, serum gastrin levels are high in patients with pernicious anaemia but are likely to be low after total gastrectomy.Colonic pressure activity, however, especially after a protein-containing meal, is greater after total gastrectomy than in pernicious anaemia.3It would therefore seem unlikely that gastrin is involved in the colonic motor response to meals.3-Weare, etc.,