Gastrointestinal hormone abnormalities and G and D cells in functional dyspepsia patients with gastric dysmotility.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between gastric dysmotility, gastrointestinal hormone abnormalities, and neuroendocrine cells in gastrointestinal mucosa in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD).


METHODS
Gastric emptying was assessed with solid radiopaque markers in 54 FD patients, and the patients were divided into two groups according to the results, one with delayed gastric emptying and the other with normal gastric emptying. Seventeen healthy volunteers acted as normal controls. Fasting and postprandial plasma levels and gastroduodenal mucosal levels of gastrointestinal hormones gastrin, somatostatin (SS) and neurotensin (NT) were measured by radioimmunoassay in all the subjects. G cells (gastrin-producing cells) and D cells (SS-producing cells) in gastric antral mucosa were immunostained with rabbit anti-gastrin polyclonal antibody and rabbit anti-SS polyclonal antibody, respectively, and analyzed quantitatively by computerized image analysis.


RESULTS
The postprandial plasma gastrin levels, the fasting and postprandial plasma levels and the gastric and duodenal mucosal levels of NT were significantly higher in the FD patients with delayed gastric emptying than in those with normal gastric emptying and normal controls. The number and gray value of G and D cells and the G cell/D cell number ratio did not differ significantly between normal controls and the FD patients with or without delayed gastric emptying.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that the abnormalities of gastrin and NT may play a role in the pathophysiology of gastric dysmotility in FD patients, and the abnormality of postprandial plasma gastrin levels in FD patients with delayed gastric emptying is not related to the changes both in the number and gray value of G cells and in the G cell/D cell number ratio in gastric antral mucosa.
He
Mei-Rong
MR
Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, the First Military Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong Province, China. hemr@263.net
Song
Yu-Gang
YG
Zhi
Fa-Chao
FC
D000328:Adult; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000097:blood / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005746:Gastric Emptying; D005768:Gastrointestinal Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011706:Pyloric Antrum / Q000473:pathology*
D005768:Gastrointestinal Hormones