title: Motilin receptor neuropharmacology: revised understanding.
abstract: Although motilin was identified >40 years ago as a gastrointestinal hormone capable of stimulating gastric emptying, the relatively recent availability of molecular tools and focus on its neuronal activities are now clarifying mechanisms of action. In rodents, only motilin receptor pseudogenes are identified. In human stomach, facilitation of enteric cholinergic activity is identified as the main mechanism by which gastric emptying is increased; some motilin agonists act in a prolonged manner, contrasting with motilin itself and with studies using recombinant receptors. As such, assays using recombinant receptors seem poor predictors of in vivo activity. High-throughput screening enabled selective motilin agonists to be identified, which together with enhanced understanding into neuromuscular actions of motilin, promises to deliver rational treatments of disorders with delayed gastric emptying.
authors.affiliation: Neurogastroenterology Group, Blizard Institute, Barts & The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom. g.sanger@qmul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gareth J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Sanger
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015195:Drug Design; D005746:Gastric Emptying / Q000187:drug effects*; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000187:drug effects; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays; D006801:Humans; D011544:Pseudogenes; D011964:Receptors, Gastrointestinal Hormone / Q000819:agonists* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide / Q000819:agonists* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012377:Rodentia
chemical_list: D011964:Receptors, Gastrointestinal Hormone; D018013:Receptors, Neuropeptide; C050802:motilin receptor