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Pernicious Anemia

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What a great topic Kaley. As you stated the stomach’s metabolic pathway is a complex one. Regarding pernicious anemia (PA), I would like to say that it is an autoimmune disease which will deteriorate the gastric mucosa leading to complications in the proper absorption of vitamin B12, because of the limited quantity of parietal cells that produce the intrinsic factor (Bizzaro & Antico, 2014). In other words, PA is caused by insufficient secretion of intrinsic factor and poor vitamin B12 absorption (Bizzaro & Antico, 2014). Moreover, vitamin B12 plays an incredible role in the erythropoiesis process and myelin synthesis (Bizzaro & Antico, 2014). A way to treat this disease is to administrate parenterally (intramuscular) injections of 1mg of …show more content…

Therefore, somatostatin works inhibiting the acid secretion acting directly in the parietal cell and in that same way blocking the regulation of gastrin and histamine (Washington.edu, n.d.). Additionally, somatostatin can also inhibit other gastrointestinal hormones like vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) and cholecystokinin (CCK) (Utiger, 2011). The clinical use of somatostatin as a drug to reduce the production of gastric acid it is limited due to two critical factors: first, somatostatin has a very short half-life with less than three minutes of action and second, somatostatin can only be produced by the body (Huang, 1997). However, some studies suggest the use of somatostatin analogues in the treatment of reduction of gastric acid. According to Ritz, et al., (1999) Vapreotide, a somatostatin analog was used as testing trial to treat intragastric acidity without positive outcome in the regulation of acidity and mediation of gastrin. Also, they found that Vapreotide can also diminish the contraction of the gallbladder reducing the effects of the biliary functions (Ritz, et al.,

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