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Gastrospirillum hominis, a new spiral bacterium, was found in the gastric mucosa of two patients with antral chronic gastritis. These 2 cases originated from a series of 2781 consecutive gastric biopsies observed over a period of five years, with a prevalence of 0.072%. Dogs and cats may be responsible for transmission to humans but in our experience no contact with pets was documented. Detection of these organisms might provide new insight into the pathogenesis of human gastritis.

Despite numerous studies on the effects of bile salts therapy in chronic liver disease, there are no reports on the influence such therapy has on hepatocyte proliferation. The aim of this preliminary study was to evaluate the effect of TUDCA on hepatocyte proliferation in 5 patients with HCV-correlated chronic liver disease. All patients were treated with TUDCA (10-13 mg/day) for three months and the determination of PCNA (Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen) expression was used to assess the proliferative activity of hepatocytes at the beginning and at the end of treatment. TUDCA reduced both ALT and Knodell's score in the 5 patients in whom a significant increase of PCNA-LI (p < 0.05) was observed after treatment. TUDCA administration seems to stimulate hepatocyte proliferation in man.

We evaluated the incidence and risk factors of duodenal ulcer (DU) in a cohort of patients who had undergone esophagogastroduodenoscopy in our institution from 1978 to 1982, without then finding a gastric or duodenal ulcer. Six hundred and twenty-one subjects entered the study, and 526 (84.7%) were traced in 1992. Forty-one cases of DU were found, an incidence rate of 6.7 per 1,000 person-years; the male/female ratio was 2:1. The diagnoses of peptic ulcer (PU) were validated by means of medical documentation. The odds ratio of DU was 2.3 (95% confidence interval 0.8-6.3) and 3.5 (1.4-9.0) in the II and III tertile of basal acid output (BAO) compared with the I tertile, and 2.6 (0.8-8.3) and 7.0 (2.3-20.7) in the II and III tertile of maximal acid output (MAO) compared with the I tertile. Cigarette smoking and the presence of PU among siblings of DU patients were risk factors for DU. Multiple logistic regression confirmed only the association of DU with MAO, cigarette smoking, and family history. By means of a nested case-control study, the risk of developing DU was assessed in subjects with Helicobacter pylori (HP) at the biopsy of gastric mucosa performed before the ulcer diagnosis. The odds ratio of DU in HP-positive subjects was 5.0 (95% confidence interval 0.6-45). The results of this study confirm the influence of gastric acid secretion, cigarette smoking, and family history in the pathogenesis of DU and suggest that HP infection not only favors relapse but could have an important role in the onset of the disease.

Complex and conflicting relationships between epidermal growth factor (EGF), estrogens (E), androgens (A), and related receptors (EGF-R, E-R, A-R) have been reported in different biological situations associated with cell proliferation. There is also evidence that EGF and sex hormone receptors may be involved in normal and neoplastic growth of the gastrointestinal mucosa. In this study, we investigated the behavior of EGF receptors and sex hormone and related receptors, during N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG)-induced gastric carcinogenesis in Sprague-Dawley male rats. Four groups of 15 rats each (10 NG-treated and five controls) were sacrificed after 1, 20, 30, and 40 weeks of treatment. Gastric tissue from each rat was processed for receptor status (number and affinity) and proliferative activity. A significant and progressive decrease of A-R and EGF-R was observed starting from the 20th week, while no change of E-R occurred throughout the experiment. Cell proliferation in the gastric mucosa of NG-treated rats increased after 30 weeks of treatment. These data indicate that NG treatment is able to modify the receptor status of gastric mucosa in rats.

Recently a spiral bacterium different from Helicobacter Pylori (HP) was observed in the human stomach and the name of Gastrospirillum Hominis (GH) was proposed for this organism. GH presence is reported to be not associated to HP but related to chronic active gastritis. We describe the case of a 31 year old male suffering from upper abdominal symptoms, who underwent oesophagogastroduodenoscopy, which revealed a picture of duodenal hyperemia. Gastric body showed a normal mucosa and absence of HP, while active chronic gastritis associated with HP was found in the antrum. In addition few spiral bacteria showing 4-5 spirals, larger than HP were observed within the gastric crypts and beneath the mucus layer in this site. This case represents the first report from our geographic area (Southern Italy) of the possibility of finding bacteria different from HP in the human stomach. The simultaneous HP presence does not allow us to relate the chronic active gastritis of the patient with the GH like bacteria. Our finding, however, suggests the possibility that HP and GH may be simultaneously present in the course of type B antral chronic inflammation. This association was not observed in previous investigations.

The effect of glucagon on fasting gastrin levels was studied in normal subjects and in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis. Intravenous glucagon was given e.v. at a dose of 200 ng/kg/h and produced a significant decrease of serum gastrin levels at 50 min in controls while in cirrhotic patients there was no significant decrease. (p less than 0,01) Gastrin inhibition in normal subjects during glucagon infusion was significantly correlated to a simultaneous increase found in plasma cAMP and glucose levels. These findings suggest that hypergastrinemia in cirrhosis could be consequence of the failure of glucagon metabolic interactions.