The Intrinsic Factor Secretion in Localized Gastric Disorders

By means of radioimmunoassay the gastric secretion of intrinsic factor (IF) has been measured in 228 subjects, comprising 65 duodenal ulcer patients, 50 patients with gastric ulcer, 25 patients with gastric carcinoma, 35 patients with Addisonian pernicious anaemia, and 53 control subjects. The IF secretion in kilo‐units (KU) in the first hour after augmented histamine stimulation was taken as parameter of the gastric IF secretory capacity. One KU = the amount of IF that binds one μg vitamin B12. Mean ± S.D. (in KU/h) was (number of subjects in parentheses): male controls (25) 17.4 ± 6.8, female controls (28) 13.7 ± 5.1, males, duodenal ulcer (56) 28.2± 8.7, females, duodenal ulcer (9) 18.0 ± 5.2, males, corpus ulcer (13) 11.2 ± 4.8, females, corpus ulcer (17) 12.7 ± 5.5, males, prepyloric ulcer (13) 16.8 ± 5.0, females, prepyloric ulcer (7) 18.6 ± 5.0. The IF secretion in the 25 gastric cancer patients ranged from 0.1 to 28.2 KU/h, and was below 8.5 in 22 patients. The IF secretion in the 35 patients with pernicious anaemia was in all cases below 0.2 KU/h. As the daily need for IF is 2–4 KU, it is concluded that in subjects with a normal gastric mucosa the IF secretory capacity is abundant in relation to the need for IF.