Efectos de bajas dosis de ranitidina y antiácidos efervescentes sobre la acidez intragástrica en voluntarios sanos

Edgardo Effects of a single low dose of ranitidine and effervescent antacids on intragastric acidity in healthy volunteers Acta Gastroenterológica Latinoamericana, Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Summary Introduction/aims: We hypothesized that a combination of an effervescent antacid and ranitidine could allow immediate and long-lasting increase intragastric acidity. Our aim was to determine the effect of the combined intake of both, of a low dose ranitidine (OTC) and 5g of antacid on gastric pH. Material and methods: Twenty healthy Helicobacter pylori negative volunteers were enrolled. The study consisted in a fasting 6-hour gastric ph-metric procedure performed in two different periods: baseline (1-hour before drug) and post-drug (5-hours) after oral administration of a single dose of ranitidine (75 mg) plus 5 g of a commercial composed alkaline (sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, sodium carbonate). Results: While two subjects did not complete the pH-metry analysis due to technical reasons, 18 volunteers were finally assessed. Baseli-ne intragastric pH (1.3±0.1) (mean±SD) rose significantly after administration of the drug (mean pH value for the whole period: 5.1±0.3; p<0.00001). The pH increased after administration of the study combination and values higher than pH 3 and pH 4 were reached immediately (median time: 27 sec, range: 0-189 and 54 sec, range 27-3,600 sec, respectively). Gastric pH was initially maintained above 4 for 23.0±5 minutes. The mean time lapsed with pH<4 during the post-drug period was 96±17 min (32% of the total time). Conclusion: Our study confirms the fast and persistent effect produced by the administration of a combination of antacid salts plus low dose of ranitidine. We suggest that the given combination could be effec