Oral administration of somatostatin reduces postprandial plasma triglycerides, gastrin and gut glucagon-like immunoreactivity

The present study was designed to determine if orally administered somatostatin can reduce the postprandial rise in plasma triglycerides, gastrin, gut glucagon-like immunoreactivity (GLI) and the pancreatic hormones insulin and glucagon. Ten overnight fasted dogs were fed a fat-protein meal with or without 2 mg synthetic somatostatin, followed by another 2 mg somatostatin 90 min later. After the meal with somatostatin, postprandial plasma triglyceride levels were significantly lower for 5 hours, GLI levels for 3.5 hours and gastrin levels for 1 hour compared to the controls. Plasma insulin, glucagon and somatostatin-like immunoreactivity was not different from the control experiments. It is concluded that orally administered somatostatin lowers the postprandial levels of triglycerides, GLI and gastrin in dogs. This may have therapeutic implications for the management of gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders.