Gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) strongly stimulates insulin secretion in the presence of glucose and also stimulates somatostatin release from gastric mucosa. It was reported recently that both stimulatory activities can be dissociated by removing the C-terminal 12 amino acid residues. Since insulin and somatostatin are involved in regulation of exocrine pancreatic and gastric secretion in rats, we compared the inhibitory effects of pGIP and the pGIP(1-30)NH2 fragment on pancreatic amylase and gastric acid secretion. pGIP(1-30)NH2 displayed full activity on inhibition of bombesin (BN)-stimulated amylase release relative to GIP itself, but was about 10-fold less potent in inhibiting gastric acid secretion. These results suggest that the receptors involved in these two events have quite different ligand binding requirements and that more specific analogues of GIP can be designed which should be of value in elucidating the physiological roles of this hormone.