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For decades, zinc deficiency has been known to increase gastric mucosal cell apoptosis. Studies in the 1980s investigated zinc's potential to heal and regenerate the protective mucosal gel layer of the stomach. These studies also reported an antisecretory effect of zinc on gastric acid but could not establish a biological mechanism.
To evaluate the potential for zinc to act as a clinical antisecretory agent, investigators conducted a series of in vitro and in vivo studies in rats and humans. Gastric glands from humans (obtained from obese patients who underwent gastric reduction surgery), gastric glands from rats, and rat stomachs were isolated and then stimulated by histamine (100 µM) and monitored for pH levels in both the presence and abs…