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An examination of 100 patients with ulcer disease of the stomach duodenum and 20 practically healthy people has shown that the level of extracellular antioxidant enzyme defense (ceruloplasmin) is higher than those in practically healthy people. This dependence was most pronounced in the group of patients requiring surgical interventions. In the process of treatment the level of ceruloplasmin activity gradually decreased, without reaching normal values. The level of ceruloplasmin activity in patients with ulcer disease of the stomach and duodenum are thought to characterize the state of compensatory reactions in these patients.

The activity of enzymes of the antioxidant system and pO2 in the gastric mucosa (GM) was studied in patients with gastric ulcer. The various enzymes differed in activity. Along with low activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GP), and glutathione reductase (GR), both normal and increased values were encountered. In GM hypoxia the GP activity increased in the peri-ulcerous zone. There was no statistically significant increase of SOD activity and reduction of GR activity.

Lysozyme concentration in the gastric juice of 34 patients with peptic ulcer and 10 practically healthy persons was studied. In the patients with peptic ulcer the lysozyme levels in the gastric juice were found to be lower. A significant decrease in the lysozyme concentration was observed in the patients suffering from peptic ulcer for more than 2 years. During the first months of the disease increased levels of lysozyme were recorded. Relationship between the lysozyme concentration in the gastric juice and the acidity of the gastric contents was shown. Decreased concentrations of lysozyme were more pronounced in the patients with increased levels of hydrochloric acid.

Gastric acidity was evaluated, using the histamine test (Key's test), measurement of nocturnal gastric secretion and gastric pH-metry, in 174 patients with gastric ulcers. Acidity proved to be lowered in 25% of gastric ulcers patients, normal in 30% and increased in nearly half of the patients. Intragastric proteolysis was studied in 48 individuals, including 27 patients with peptic ulcers and 21 normal controls. It was found to be normal in the overwhelming majority of peptic ulcer patients (74%). It is concluded that intragastric proteolysis can only be regarded as an aggressive factor, resulting in the formation of a gastric ulcer, when it is combined with high acidity.

New data have been made available which confirm the existence of differing quateron sensitivity of tissular monaminoxidases possessing dissimilar substrate specificity. An experimental neurogenic dystrophy of the stomach is attended on the whole by an activated deamidization of monamines, but there could be seen marked differences in the ability to intensify oxidation depending upon the localization of the mitochondrial monaminoxidases in various parts of the stomach. When introduced to intact animals in a dose of 5 mg/kg quateron tends to lower the activity of mitochondrial monaminoxidases in individual receptor areas of the stomach with respect to norepinephrine and, especially, serotonin. In such instances preliminary introduction of quateron prevents an activated oxidation of norepinephrine and serotonin, observed 24 hours after inflicting an injury. In the mechanisms governing deposition of catecholamines and serotonin in the gastric wall occurring under the effect of quateron a definite role plays also the inhibition of the mitochondrial monaminoxidases.

No microbial growth in platings of the gastric juice of patients with gastric ulcer and chronic anacidic gastritis was observed. It means that the absence of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice does not deprive it of any antimicrobial action. The possible role of lysozyme in providing sterility of the proximal part of the gastro-intestinal tract was studied. Eighty patients with chronic diseases of the digestive organs were observed. It was noted that the levels of lysozyme in the gastric juice was high and markedly exceeded the maximum concentrations required for lysis of organisms most resistant to it. The maximum concentration was determined at pH of the gastric juice equal to 7.0-7.5 (265 gamma/ml+/-28). No lysozyme in the content of the duodenum and jejunal juice was found in most cases. Its presence in the above parts of the gastro-intestinal tract was mainly associated with microbial growth. The maximum concentration of lysozyme (40 gamma/ml) in the jejunal juice was observed in a female patient with chronic enterocolitis and significant microbial proliferation in the thin colon (more than 10(4) microbial bodies per 1 ml of the juice). Such parallelism between the presence of lysozyme in the gastric juice and microbial proliferation in it may be considered as a protective-adoptive reaction of the host.

The antiulcer effect of two medicinal forms (oil solution, liniment) of dibunol in rats with different models of the stomach and duodenum ulcers was studied. The therapeutic activity of dibunol was evaluated by determining the index of ulcer formation as well as during the morphological and histochemical studies. The two medicinal forms of dibunol possessed equal antiulcer activity by all studied criteria. One should note a characteristic property of dibunol--its ability to produce pronounced epithelialization of ulceroerosive and ulceronecrotic lesions of the mucosa without rough scarring.