Related medicinesSecretin
Where it comes from
- Made in
- S cells of the duodenum and jejunum
- Sent out by
- Acid arriving in the duodenum
- Acts on
- Pancreatic duct cells
- Bile duct cells
- Stomach
- Hypothalamus
What it does
- Makes the pancreas and bile ducts pour out bicarbonate-rich fluid 1
- Slows gastric emptying and acid
- Takes part in water and salt balance in brain and kidney, in animal studies
In medicine
- Synthetic human secretin is approved for pancreatic function testing, for finding gastrinomas (the secretin stimulation test) and to help cannulate the pancreatic duct 2
- Secretin-enhanced MRI shows the pancreatic duct
Beyond the body’s own use
- Secretin was given to children with autism after a 1998 report, and became one of the most-tested treatments in the condition. A Cochrane review of the randomised trials, covering more than 900 children, found no evidence of benefit and recommended against it 3
- It has been tried in a small trial for the symptoms of schizophrenia, with nothing established
- Secretin is a hospital injection with licensed diagnostic uses and no others, and it lasts minutes in the blood 1
Sources
This card describes what a medicine is for and what the evidence says; it recommends nothing. Talk to your clinician about anything you read here.