Ethyl alcohol is known to stimulate gastric acid secretion in fundic pouch dogs during irrigation of the antrum. A comparison was made with regard to such an effect of a series of aliphatic alcohols including methyl, ethyl, n‐propyl, isopropyl, n‐butyl, isobutyl, sec‐butyl and tert‐butyl alcohol. Dogs provided with a Heidenhain or a Pavlov pouch and isolated, innervated antral pouch were used. The only alcohol besides ethanol that showed a potent stimulatory effect was n‐propyl alcohol. All other alcohols tested had an effect less than half of that of ethanol. A change from one stimulatory alcohol to the corresponding isocompound caused a marked decrease of the effect. Isopropyl alcohol, one of the “non‐stimulatory” aliphatic alcohols, did neither show a synergistic nor an inhibitory action on the effect of ethyl alcohol or n‐propyl alcohol during simultaneous administration, indicating almost no interference with gastrin release mechanisms. n‐Propyl alcohol together with ethyl alcohol showed a dose‐response related action. Methyl alcohol was almost inactive. The results indicate that the stimulatory effect of alcohols could not be related to water or fat solubility but to the molecular configuration. © 1969 Scandinavian Physiological Society
