Simulated meal test. A new method for estimation of parietal and non-parietal secretion in response to food.

In ten healthy volunteers gastric secretion was stimulated by a simulated meal, in which the cephalic phase was activated by modified sham feeding and the gastric phase by repeated instillations and withdrawals of a meat soup. The gastric aspirates were analyzed for acid and pepsin and the outputs quantitated by the recovery of an unabsorbable marker (polyethylene glycol). Instillation of liquid meal without sham feeding produced 58% and 65% of pentagastrin-stimulated secretion of acid and pepsin, respectively. Concomitant sham feeding increased the stimulation further, so that the outputs evoked by the combined stimulus (simulated meal test) were similar to that achieved by the pentagastrin test. The coefficient of variation of duplicate tests was 4.5% for acid and 5.4% for pepsin output. The technique is suitable for measuring both parietal and non-parietal secretion in response to food.