Cholecystokinin is a principal mediator of intestinal fat-induced inhibition of gastric acid secretion, indicating that it is an important physiological enterogastrone. Cholecystokinin has been shown to inhibit acid secretion by activation of type A CCK receptors and through a mechanism involving somatostatin. In the present study, we investigated the possibility that these two mechanisms are directly related such that activation of type A CCK receptors by CCK causes the release of somatostatin. We tested this hypothesis in vivo in a study of CCK-stimulated release of somatostatin in dogs and in vitro in a study of CCK-stimulated release of somatostatin from an enriched culture of canine fundic D cells. In dogs, IV infusion of CCK (50 pmol/kg/h, IV) significantly increased circulating somatostatin concentrations above basal. Further, systemic administration of somatostatin MAb F(ab)1 fragments of a somatostatin monoclonal antibody prevented most of CCK-induced inhibition of meal-stimulated acid secretion. In canine fundic D cells in culture, CCK-stimulated somatostatin release was blocked in a dose-dependent fashion by application of a type A CCK receptor antagonist. This study indicates that CCK activates type A CCK receptors to release somatostatin from canine fundic mucosal D cells, and accounts for somatostatin-dependent CCK-induced inhibition of acid secretion.