title: Rikkunshito improves the symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia, accompanied by an increase in the level of plasma ghrelin.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a common disease but there is no established treatment. Rikkunshito is a traditional Japanese medicine that is widely used for treating upper gastrointestinal symptoms and its effect on ghrelin is of great interest. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of rikkunshito on upper gastrointestinal symptoms and the levels of acylated ghrelin (AG) in patients with FD.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a paralleled, randomized controlled trial. Patients were treated with either rikkunshito (group R) or domperidone (group D) for 4 weeks. The overall change in dyspeptic symptoms was evaluated by the GSRS (Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale) questionnaire score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  27 patients were enrolled. There was a significant improvement in dyspeptic symptoms in both groups, based on the GSRS score. AG levels increased significantly in plasma in group R at 2 weeks after treatment (paired t-test, p<0.05). The improvements of reflux (Pearson's correlation test, r=-0.73, p=0.04) and indigestion (r=-0.76, p=0.03) symptoms in group R showed a good correlation with the increase of AG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Rikkunshito improves upper gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with FD, accompanied by an increase in the levels of AG.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japna. araim-cib@umin.ac.jp
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arai
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Naoko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Chiharu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sadakane
authors.forename: Ryouhei
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Inami
authors.forename: Takuto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Imazeki
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yokosuka
mesh_terms: D000215:Acylation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D004294:Domperidone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004415:Dyspepsia / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C515349:GHRL protein, human; D005765:Gastrointestinal Agents; D054439:Ghrelin; C422650:ghrelin, des-n-octanoyl; C084136:liu-jun-zi-tang; D004294:Domperidone