Is an increase in duodenal bicarbonate concentration after STa really enhanced bicarbonate ion secretion? Michael L. Lucas 1 Division of Neuroscience and Biomedical Systems, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK 1 Correspondence: m.lucas@bio.gla.ac.uk I was interested in the paper of Sellers et al . reporting on the ability of heat stable enterotoxin from E. coli allegedly to stimulate duodenal bicarbonate anion secretion (1) ⇓ . However, I believe the main conclusion is not supported by the data because the chosen physiological techniques do not prove that enhanced bicarbonate anion secretion occurred after the duodenum was exposed to the enterotoxin. Enhanced appearance of bicarbonate anion might arise by enhanced bicarbonate ion secretion but the more likely cause is cessation of hydrogen ion secretion, a known effect of STa that is likely to be the only effect of that enterotoxin (2 ⇓ , 3) ⇓ . The chosen physiological technique was in vivo perfusion followed by measurement of bicarbonate appearance in the lumen of the perfused anaesthetised mouse. Samples were taken and the bicarbonate ion concentration assayed indirectly by titration. The technique involves adding an amount of hydrochloric acid to the sample that will consume
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