Influence of ghrelin on interdigestive gastrointestinal motility in humans

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Ghrelin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

The aim of the present study therefore was to simultaneously investigate the effect of administration of ghrelin on upper gastrointestinal motility and to elucidate its mode of action by measuring plasma levels of gastrointestinal hormones in humans.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults, both men and women.

Nine healthy volunteers (four males; aged 22-35 years) underwent combined antroduodenal manometry and proximal stomach barostat study on two separate occasions at least one week apart.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and crossover study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Ghrelin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Ghrelin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Each person switched between Ghrelin and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

Twenty minutes after the occurrence of phase III of the migrating motor complex (MMC), saline or ghrelin 40 mug was administered intravenously over 30 minutes in a double blind, randomised, crossover fashion.

Ghrelin, motilin, pancreatic polypeptide, glucagon, and somatostatin were measured by radioimmunoassay in blood samples obtained at 15-30 minute intervals.

The influence of ghrelin or saline on MMC phases, hormone levels, and intraballoon volume was compared using paired t test, ANOVA, and chi(2) testing.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Gastrointestinal Hormones, Gastrointestinal Motility, Ghrelin, Manometry, Pancreatic Polypeptide and Peptide Hormones.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and crossover study of Ghrelin.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2006 (Gut), a journal based in England.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.