Effects of corticotropin-releasing hormone on gastric electrical activity and sensorimotor function in healthy volunteers: a double-blinded crossover study

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone).

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of peripheral CRH infusion on meal-related gastrointestinal symptoms, gastric electrical activity, and gastric sensorimotor function in healthy volunteers (HVs).

Tests encompassed saliva samples, gastric-emptying (GE) testing, body surface gastric mapping (BSGM, Gastric Alimetry; Alimetry) to assess gastric myoelectrical activity with real-time symptom profiling, and a gastric barostat study to assess gastric sensitivity to distention and accommodation.

Why It Was Studied

The mechanisms underlying pathophysiological alterations of stress remain unclear.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a central regulator of the hormonal stress response and has diverse impact on different organ systems.

Who Took Part

The study group was 13 women.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults and adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got ACTH (Corticotropin) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the women and researchers unaware of who received ACTH (Corticotropin).

Some women received a placebo instead of ACTH (Corticotropin), giving a reference point.

In the crossover set-up each of the women took both ACTH (Corticotropin) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

In a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover study, the researchers evaluated the effects of CRH on gastric motility and sensitivity.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone, Stomach, Healthy Volunteers, Gastric Emptying and Saliva.

Author keywords: body surface gastric mapping, gastric motility, gastric myoelectrical activity and gastric sensorimotor function.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of ACTH (Corticotropin) and CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) in 13 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2024 (American journal of physiology. Gastrointestinal and liver physiology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the ACTH (Corticotropin) compound page and the CRH (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone) compound page, all human trials.