Gastric acid secretion in L-histidine decarboxylase-deficient mice

Background & Aims: Histamine, gastrin, and acetylcholine are known to be the primary secretagogues of gastric acid secretion, but how the roles are shared among these secretagogues remains to be fully clarified. To evaluate the cooperation between histamine and the other secretagogues, acid secretion responses induced by each secretagogue were measured in L-histidine decarboxylase (HDC)-deficient mice. Methods: Acid secretion was measured by the titration of acid under anesthesia. The expression of selected genes involved in acid secretion was determined by Northern blot and/or immunoblot analysis. Histamine-2 (H₂) receptor binding in the gastric mucosa was investigated using [³H]tiotidine. Results: HDC-deficient mice showed low basal and high exogenous histamine-stimulated acid secretion. The mutant mice showed hypergastrinemia and did not undergo acid secretion upon treatment with exogenous gastrin. However, carbachol stimulated weak and transient acid secretion in the mutants. The Bmax values for H₂ and the expression of Gsα in gastric mucosal membranes were higher in the mutants than in the wild-type mice. Conclusions: This study confirms the concept that histamine production is essential for gastric acid secretion induced by gastrin, but not for that induced by carbachol. HDC-deficient mice should be a suitable model for further functional analyses of the correlation between histamine and the other acid secretagogues.