Abstract

In groups of Chinese patients with duodenal ulcer and controls, increasing the dose of pentagastrin from the standard dose of 6 ug/kg or 12 ug/kg did not result in any change in the maximum acid output (MAO). Comparison of the MAO thus obtained with that reported in series of Occidental subjects suggested that the Chinese subjects had smaller MAO. Using the method of Card and Marks (1960), the parietal cells of resected stomachs were counted in a group of Chinese patients with duodenal ulcer. It was found that the parietal cell mass (PCM) correlated with the MAO, both PCM and MAO were significantly small in the Chinese series as compared with the Scottish series, but the acid output per unit parietal cell mass (MAO per 10(9) parietal cells) was not different in the two groups. These observations suggested that the Chinese patients with duodenal ulcer had smaller parietal cell mass compared with the Westerners.