Cellular Energetical Actions of “Chemical” and “Surgical” Vagotomy in Gastrointestinal Mucosal Damage and Protection: Similarities, Differences and Significance for Brain-Gut Function

BACKGROUND: The authors, as internists, registered significant difference in the long lasting actions of surgical and chemical (atropine treatment) vagotomy in patients with peptic ulcer during second half of the last century (efficency, gastric acid secretion, gastrointestinal side effects, briefly benefical and harmful actions were examined). AIMS: 1. Since the authors participated in the establishing of human clinical pharmacology in this field, they wanted to know more and more facts of the acute and chronic effects of surgical and chemical (atropine treatment) on the gastrointestinal mucosal biochemisms and their actions altered by bioactive compounds and scavengers regarding the development of gastric mucosal damage and protection. METHODS: The observations were carried out in animals under various experimental conditions (in intact, pylorus-ligated rats, in different experimental ulcer models, together with application of various mucosal protecting compounds) without and with surgical vagotomy and chemical vagotomy produced by atropine treatment. RESULTS: 1. No changes were obtained in the cellular energy systems (ATP, ADP, AMP, cAMP, “adenylate pool”, “energy charge“ [(ATP+ 0.5 ADP)/ (ATP+ADP+AMP)] of stomach (glandular part, forestomach) in pylorus ligated rats after surgical vagotomy in contrast to those produced by only chemical vagotomy; 2. The effects of the gastric mucosal protective compounds [atropine, cimetidine, prostaglandins, scavengers (like vitamin A, β-carotene), capsaicin] disappeared after surgical vagotomy; 3. The extents of different chemical agents induced mucosal damaging effects were enhanced by surgical vagotomy and was not altered by chemical vagotomy; 4. The existence of feedback mechanisms of pharmacological (cellular and intracellular) regulatory mechanisms between the membrane-bound ATP-dependent energy systems exists in the gastric mucosa of intact animals, and after chemical vagotomy, but not after surgical vagotomy. CONCLUSIONS: 1. Increased vagal nerve activity takes place in the gastric mucosal damage; 2 both surgical and chemical vagotomy result mucosal protective affect on the gastric mucosal in different damaging experimental models; 3. The capsaicin-induced gastric mucosal damage depends on the applied doses, presence of anatomically intact vagal nerve (but independent from the chemical vagotomy), 4. The central and pheripheral neural regulations differ during gastric mucosal damage and protection induced by drugs, bioactive compounds, scavengers.