Role of gastric acid in restraint-induced ulceration in the rat.

Gastric hyperacidity in response to starvation and to restraint stress was selectively blocked during either or both of these periods in order to assess the relative contributions of these treatments to ulcer formation. The results clearly showed that when the antacid drug (aluminum hydroxide) was administered during food deprivation, regardless of subsequent treatment, both rumenal and glandular ulcer incidence and severity were markedly reduced. It was suggested that food deprivation produces increased stomach acidity which, if prevented, reduces ulceration ultimately resulting from a subsequent stressor. If such acidity increases are unaltered, stress-induced gastric pathology is accentuated.