We attempted to reproduce the diarrhea of pancreatic cholera syndrome with prolonged (10-hour) administration of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) in five healthy nonfasting subjects. The polypeptide was given as a continuous intravenous infusion at a rate of 400 pmol per kilogram of body weight per hour. By two hours the plasma VIP concentration had risen from a normal basal value of 15.3±0.2 (mean ±S.E.M.) to 129±40 pmol per liter — within the range found in patients with pancreatic cholera syndrome. In each subject profuse watery diarrhea developed within 4.3±0.8 hours (range, 2.0 to 6.3), and the mean stool weight at 10 hours was 2441±600 g (normal 24-hour stool weight, <200 to 250 g). The results of stool analysis were consistent with secretory diarrhea. Between the first and last stool, there were significant increases in fecal sodium and bicarbonate concentrations and in pH. The large fecal bicarbonate loss induced hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis, which is characteristic in patients with pancreatic cholera syndrome.

Our study suggests that VIP is not merely a marker of pancreatic cholera, but is the mediator of watery diarrhea in this syndrome. (N Engl J Med 1983; 309:1482–5.)