HETEROGENEOUS DISTRIBUTION OF GASTRIC-MUCOSAL BLOOD-FLOW WITH RESTRAINT STRESS IN THE RAT

Cold water immersion restraint (CWIR) is associated with gastric hyper contractility and gastric corpus erosions in the rat. Because the gast ric blood flow response to CWIR has not been well defined, we performe d the following study. Rats were implanted with force transducers, sub jected to CWIR for 2 hr, and then blood flow was determined by the iod o[C-14]antipyrine autoradiographic (IAP) technique. When compared to c ontrol animals, the CWIR-treated animals displayed foci of gastric cor pus hyperemia with a marked and significant increase in blood flow in all layers of the gastric corpus. There was approximately a 100% incre ase in the mucosa and a 50% increase in the muscularis externa. The hy peremia was not uniform, but rather alternated every 2.1 +/- 0. 2 mm w ith regions of low blood flow. Blood flow in the antrum and duodenum w as unaffected by CWIR. We conclude that CWIR is associated with altern ating regions of high and low blood flow only in the gastric corpus. R eduction of corpus mucosal blood flow might be due to the powerful gas tric contractions associated with CWIR.