ABSTRACT
The measurement of serum pepsinogen concentrations by enzymatic method and immunoassay provides diagnostic values and should be helpful in the detection of gastric diseases related to a rise of blood pepsinogen. In the present study, the correlation between a conventional enzymatic method and a recently developed radioimmunoassay (RIA) for serum pepsinogen A was investigated. A total of 123 sera samples of porcine foetuses (n = 28), adult healthy pigs (n = 56), pigs with parakeratosis (n = 25) and pigs with ulceration of the pars oesophagea (n = 14) were tested. Overall, there was a slight correlation between the two methods (r = 0.60). In relation to individual animal groups, the correlations (r) were 0.39 (P>0.05), 0.74 (P<0.001), 0.19 (P>0.05) and 0.34 (P>0.05) in foetuses, healthy pigs, pigs with parakeratosis and pigs with ulcers, respectively. In both methods, pepsinogen concentrations (means+/-SE) were significantly higher (P<0.05) in pigs with parakeratosis (1778 +/- 86.00 mUTyr/L; 690 +/- 53.00 ng/mL) and in pigs with ulcers (2026 +/- 153.00 mUTyr/L; 1747 +/- 94.00 ng/mL) when compared to healthy pigs (935 +/- 58.00 mUTyr/L; 275 +/- 35.00 ng/mL). The proteolytic method gave a significant increased activity (P<0.05) in foetuses (1150 +/- 82.00 mUTyr/L) vs. (935 +/- 58.00 mUTyr/L) in healthy adult pigs, indicating an additional proteolytic activity in the sera of foetuses or neonates.
