Sex-related Differences in Gastrin Release and Parietal Cell Sensitivity to Gastrin in Healthy Human Beings

We compared serum gastrin concentrations and gastric acid secretion basally and in response to a mixed meal in age-matched women and men. Women had significantly higher basal serum gastrin concentrations (P < 0.01) and two- to threefold higher food-stimulated serum gastrin concentrations (P < 0.001) than men. Basal and food-stimulated serum gastrin concentrations in women did not fluctuate significantly during the menstrual cycle. Sex-related differences in food-stimulated serum gastrin concentrations were not due to differences in antral pH because pH after the meal in women and men had been kept constant at 5.0 by in vivo intragastric titration with sodium bicarbonate.