Effects of bombesin on food intake and gastric acid secretion in cats

Abstract

The brain and gut peptide bombesin has been reported both to stimulate gastric secretion and to induce satiety. To understand how the peripheral administration of bombesin affects food intake and whether gastric mechanisms are involved, a comparative study of the doses of bombesin active on gastric secretion, gastric emptying, and food intake was undertaken in cats provided with a gastric fistula and a denervated Heidenhain pouch. The smallest dose of intravenous bombesin that stimulated significantly basal acid secretion (20 pmol.kg-1.h-1) by the gastric fistula also enhanced meal-stimulated acid secretion by the Heidenhain pouch (+138%, P less than 0.01), delayed gastric emptying of a liquid protein meal (-30%, P less than 0.01), and suppressed food intake when the test meal was allowed to reach the stomach (-15%, P less than 0.01). Conversely, in sham-feeding experiments, the same dose of bombesin increased food intake (+35%, P less than 0.01). In full-day experiments conducted in nonfasted cats, bombesin decreased both the food intake in the 4-h period after the infusion and the daily food intake, whereas octapeptide cholecystokinin induced a transient satiety but did not decrease daily food intake. These results indicate that in cats the interaction of bombesin with "pregastric" mechanisms is not sufficient to induce satiety and that a relation could exist between the effects of bombesin on gastric secretion, emptying, and food intake. A single class of receptors might be involved in these peripheral effects of bombesin.