THE INHIBITORS OF THE GASTRIC (H+, K+) ATPASE - MECHANISM OF ACTION AND THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY

Over the last twenty years, the treatment of diseases related to gastric acid secretion, such as gastroduodenal ulcer and reflux esophagitis, has greatly improved owing to the development of drugs inhibiting the physiological stimulation of this secretion (histamine H2 receptor antagonists). The proton pump inhibitors (PPI) constitute a new class of molecules possessing a remarkably prolonged and efficient antisecretory action-based on a different mechanism : the blockade of Ht transport by the(H+,K+) ATPase.