Plasma Gastrin and Secretin in Neonates

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With a view to investigating the dynamics of gastrointestinal hormones after birth, chronological changes in gastrin and secretin in the blood after birth were determined with radioimmunoassay. At delivery, the gastrin concentration in the umbilical cord plasma was 201 ±10 pg/ml (mean±SEM), significantly higher than that in the maternal vein. In the first 4–48 hours of life, it decreased to the adult level and rose again at 5 days of age. Next, the post‐prandial gastrin responses in both neonates and adults were examined. Percent increase in neonatal plasma gastrin concentration after feeding, as compared with the pre‐feeding level, was significantly higher than that observed in the adults. From these findings, we presumed that the “release setting” of gut endocrine cells differs between neonates and adults and also that enteral feeding might trigger the postnatal increase in the plasma gastrin concentration. The secretin concentration in the arterial cord plasma was 314 ±22 pg/ml. The secretin concentration in the blood also decreased in the first –8 hours of life, this decrease being similar to that of the gastrin level. However, a second rise in the level, as in the case of gastrin, was not observed at 5 days of age. In milk‐fed neonates, secretin did not show a postprandial response as did gastrin.