Pancreatic excretion of 5, 5-dimethyl-2, 4-oxazolidinedione in normal subjects

Pancreatic excretion of 5,5-dimethyl-2,4-oxazolidinedione (DMO) was studied in 25 normal subjects using the technique of the traditional pancreatic secretory test. The pancreozymin-secretin test was performed 4 days after the oral administration of trimethadione (3,5,5-trimethyl-2,4-oxazolidinedione, the precursor of DMO) for 3 consecutive days. When a dose of 1 unit/kg of pancreozymin was administered intravenously, both DMO concentration and output of a 10-min fractional specimen were rapidly increased and then decreased gradually. When a dose of 1 unit/kg of secretin was injected 30 min after pancreozymin, DMO concentration in duodenal aspirate showed no significant alteration, while DMO output of the aspirate was remarkably increased and then diminished in parallel to flow rate. DMO concentration in plasma varied widely from subject to subject, but was fairly constant during the course of the test in the same subject. Total DMO output in the postpancreozymin 30-min and postsecretin 60-min periods was linearly related to plasma DMO concentration. The output of DMO, when expressed as the output at a level of 10 mg/100 ml of plasma DMO, was linearly related to secretory volume and bicarbonate and amylase outputs in the postsecretin period. These results led to the conclusion that the human pancreas was capable of excreting a week organic acid of DMO with a molecular weight of 129.1 and that the excretion of DMO in normal subjects was a funciton of two factors: plasma DMO concentration and pancreatic secretory volume.

Evaluation of biliary and pancreatic function in pancreolithiasis. Value of the determination of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase

Ten patients with pancreolithiasis and ten controls underwent a 110-minute pancreozymin-secretion test in which post-pancreozymin collection periods were prolonged to 30 minutes. Gamma-Glutamyl transpeptidase concentrations and outputs of duodenal aspirate in response to pancreozymin and to secretin were greatly increased in patients with pancreolithiasis. No correlation was noted between gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and bile pigment concentrations. The mean concentrations and outputs of amylase in disease were much less than those in control subjects throughout the test. Two categories of pancreolithiasis were distinguished with respect to the distribution and size of the calculi and amylase secretion. We suggest that, in pancreolithiasis, there is an increase in ductal or centroacinar cell mass.