Pepsin and the esophagus

Esophagitis results from excessive exposure of the esophagus to gastric juice through an ineffective or dysfunctional lower esophageal sphincter mechanism. A possible role of pepsin in damaging the esophageal mucosa with consequent esophagitis may be examined directly by testing pepsin under various conditions in experimental models of esophagitis. Since gastric juice contains both acid and pepsin, all experiments examine separately effects of perfusion of the esophagus by acid without and with pepsin in various combinations. Acid perfusion alone at concentrations represented by pH 1.3 or above does not produce esophagitis. The addition of pepsin to acid between pH 1 and 3.5 causes considerable acute esophageal damage. Outside the proteolytic range, i.e., higher than pH 3.5, pepsin does not damage the esophagus. The damage caused by acidified pepsin may be made much worse by the further addition of aspirin or other NSAIDs, presumably by further breaking down mucosal barriers.