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🧪 Gastric Acid Secretion Feedback: How the Stomach Controls Its Own Acidity

Explore the self-regulating loop that acidifies the stomach: parietal cells pump hydrogen ions, three signals turn secretion on, and somatostatin shuts it back off.

Medicine & Biophysics3DModerate60 FPS💧 Water ⚡ Plasma

This simulator demonstrates how acetylcholine, gastrin, and histamine independently and synergistically stimulate the parietal cell's proton pump, and how rising acidity triggers somatostatin release that closes the feedback loop by suppressing gastrin.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

🎮 How to Use

Adjust the strength of the cephalic (acetylcholine), gastric (gastrin), and local (histamine) signals individually to see how each contributes to proton pump activity and falling luminal pH. Enable the somatostatin feedback toggle to watch the loop self-regulate, and apply a proton pump inhibitor to see how it overrides all three stimulatory pathways at once.

💡 Did You Know?

The cephalic phase, triggered purely by the sight and smell of food before a single bite is swallowed, can account for roughly a fifth to a third of total acid secreted during a meal, which is part of why eating slowly and mindfully can genuinely change how well a meal is digested.

⚙ Under the hood

Explore the self-regulating loop that acidifies the stomach: parietal cells pump hydrogen ions, three signals turn secretion on, and somatostatin shuts it back off.

gastric acidparietal cellsproton pumpgastrinhistaminesomatostatindigestive physiologyfeedback loop

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install