Luminal dilution caused by certain mild irritants and capsaicin contributes to their gastric mucosal protection.

We have recently shown that certain mild irritants caused the increase in fluid volume in the rat stomach. The present study was conducted to investigate 1) whether standing fluid in the gastric cavity can prevent gastric mucosal injury caused by 0.6 N HCl and 2) the mechanisms by which certain mild irritants increase the gastric fluid volume. One milliliter of water administered immediately before irritants greatly inhibited gastric lesion formation. Sodium chloride and capsaicin induced a profound enhancement of gastric fluid volume, as acid mild irritants did also. Sensory denervation completely abolished the volume increase caused by capsaicin but hardly influenced that caused by mild irritants. Capsaicin increased the amount of Evans blue in the gastric fluid, but mild irritants did not. On the other hand, HCl and capsaicin significantly inhibited the emptying of phenol red. From these results, we conclude that mild irritants and capsaicin can induce volume increase that by itself is enough to afford protection through luminal dilution. Capsaicin but not mild irritants requires sensory neurons to increase the gastric fluid volume. Certain mild irritants may provide a fluid pooling effect partly by inhibiting gastric emptying.