Intracisternal TRH analog increases gastrin release and corpus histidine decarboxylase activity in rats.

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) acts in brain stem nuclei to induce vagally mediated stimulation of gastric secretion. The effects of intracisternal injection of the TRH analog RX-77368 on plasma gastrin levels and corpus histidine decarboxylase (HDC) activity were studied in 48-h fasted conscious rats. RX-77368 (25-100 ng) increased plasma gastrin levels by threefold at 30 min, which remained significantly higher than control at 2 and 4 h postinjection. Corpus HDC activity began to increase at 2 h and reached a peak at 4 h postinjection with a 21-fold maximum response observed at 50 ng. Morphological changes in the appearance of corpus HDC-immunoreactive cells correlated well with HDC activity. Pretreatment with gastrin monoclonal antibody completely prevented RX-77368 stimulatory effects on HDC activity. Atropine significantly attenuated gastrin increase at 30 min by 26%. These results indicated that in conscious fasted rats, TRH analog acts in the brain to increase corpus HDC activity in the enterochromaffin-like cells, which involves gastrin release stimulated by central TRH analog.