In the present study, we investigated the effect of draft classified barley flour, which is known to have a protective effect against development of stress ulcer, on the gastric juice secretion during ulcerogenesis induced by water immersion stress. The results were as follows: 1) no significant difference was observed in rat body weight gain and food intake in both the control diet group and the barley (10%) diet groups, 2) a highly suppressive effect against stress ulcer was observed in the

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... rley (10%) diet group compared with the control diet group, 3) the acidity of gastric juice increased in the both groups at 2-h after the water immersion stress, but the barley (10%) diet group showed a significantly decreased acidity at 4-h, 4) the barley (10%) diet group showed a significant decrease in the serum gastrin concentration, but this was not directly responsible for the decrease in acidity, 5) the pepsin activity showed a tendency to increase in the control diet group at 2-h after starting of the stress experiment, while a significantly decreased activity was observed in the barley (10%) diet group, indicating suppression of the pepsin activity by the barley. These results indicate that suppression of the water immersion induced stress ulcer is partially caused by decrease in the attacking factors such as acid and pepsin. However, the involvement of protective factors can not be excluded as the decrease in the attacking factors took place for a short duration.