Previous studies indicated that gastrin-17 (G-17) and the octapeptide of colecystokinin (CCK-8) were equally potent in their interaction with receptors for 125I-[Leu15]G-17 on isolated canine parietal cells. These findings were inconsistent with the poor efficacy of CCK-8 compared with G-17 as stimuli of acid secretion in dogs. The present study examines the effects of G-17 and CCK-8 on the release of somatostatinlike immunoreactivity (SLI) from a fraction of small canine fundic mucosal cells separated by elutriation and placed in short-term culture. CCK-8 was considerably more potent and more effective than G-17 as a stimulant of SLI release from these cultured cells. CCK-8 was slightly more potent than G-17 in inhibiting 125I-[Leu15]G-17 binding to receptors in the same elutriator fraction. Our present findings support the hypothesis that the poor efficacy of CCK compared with G-17 as a stimulant of acid secretion may reflect pronounced activation of somatostatin-mediated acid-inhibitory mechanisms by CCK-8. The present data indicate that differences in affinity between CCK-8 and G-17 at the 125I[Leu15]G-17 receptor probably do not account for the greater efficacy of CCK-8; the receptor or cell activation mechanisms underlying this greater efficacy of CCK-8 on SLI release remain to be elucidated.