Advances in drug therapy for peptic ulcer disease
T. N. Pappas, S. J. Mulvihill, Y. Goto and H. T. Debas
Recently, three new drug types have emerged to treat peptic ulceration. We
compared the mechanism of action of omeprazole and somatostatin-14, both
inhibitors of gastric acid, with that of tetraprenylacetone, a drug thought
to be cytoprotective in the upper gut. Omeprazole and somatostatin-14
caused potent inhibition of meal-stimulated acid secretion in the dog (92%
+/- 6% and 97% +/- 1%, respectively). On the other hand, tetraprenylacetone
had no significant inhibitory effect on acid secretion (4% +/- 17%). In
separate studies, tetraprenylacetone was shown to be a stimulant of gastric
bicarbonate secretion in the rabbit, increasing bicarbonate secretion from
a basal level of 0 to 86 +/- 28 pmol/2 h. Tetraprenylactone was also found
to be a strong stimulant of canine pancreatic bicarbonate secretion. The
ability of tetraprenylacetone to stimulate endogenous bicarbonate secretion
may explain its ability to heal ulcers both experimentally and clinically.
