| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Department of Metabolic Medicine (C.W.l.R., N.M.N., C.J.S., M.A.G., S.R.B.), Imperial College, and Department of Surgery (T.J.H., A.M.M.-I., N.A.T.), Hammersmith Hospital Trust, London W12 ONN, United Kingdom
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Professor S. R. Bloom, Department of Metabolic Medicine, Imperial College, London W12 ONN, United Kingdom. E-mail: s.bloom{at}imperial.ac.uk.
Context: Patients with gastric or esophageal surgery and transection of the vagus nerve may suffer from appetite and weight loss but without dysphagia or mechanical obstruction to eating. The gastric hormone ghrelin stimulates food intake and GH release in rodents and man. However, rodents with vagotomy are not sensitive to the feeding effects of ghrelin.
Objective: The objective of the study was to determine whether humans with vagotomy are sensitive to ghrelin.
Study Design: The design was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.
Setting: This was a hospital-based study.
Patients: Six men and one woman who all had a previous complete truncal vagotomy with lower esophageal or gastric surgery entered and completed the study.
Intervention: Each patient received 120-min infusions of saline, 1 pmol/kg·min ghrelin, and 5 pmol/kg·min ghrelin on 3 separate days. After 90 min, a buffet meal was served.
Main Outcome Measure: Energy intake at the buffet meal was measured.
Results: Ghrelin-stimulated GH release in a dose-dependent manner was measured, confirming bioactivity. However, no change in energy intake was observed with either dose of ghrelin [energy intake (kilojoules): saline 2805 ± 812; ghrelin 1 pmol/kg·min, 2486 ± 767; ghrelin 5 pmol/kg·min, 2382 ± 543; P = not significant].
Conclusions: Ghrelin is unlikely to be an effective appetite-stimulatory treatment for patients with vagotomy and esophageal or gastric surgery. Our results suggest that an intact vagus nerve may be required for exogenous ghrelin to increase appetite and food intake in man.
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  O. B. Chaudhri, K. Wynne, and S. R. Bloom Can Gut Hormones Control Appetite and Prevent Obesity? Diabetes Care, February 1, 2008; 31(Supplement_2): S284 - S289. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. M. Park, T. Kakimoto, T. Kuroki, R. Shiraishi, T. Fujise, R. Iwakiri, and K. Fujimoto Suppression of Intestinal Mucosal Apoptosis by Ghrelin in Fasting Rats Experimental Biology and Medicine, January 1, 2008; 233(1): 48 - 56. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. G. Murphy, W. S. Dhillo, and S. R. Bloom Gut Peptides in the Regulation of Food Intake and Energy Homeostasis Endocr. Rev., December 1, 2006; 27(7): 719 - 727. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Arnold, A. Mura, W. Langhans, and N. Geary Gut Vagal Afferents Are Not Necessary for the Eating-Stimulatory Effect of Intraperitoneally Injected Ghrelin in the Rat J. Neurosci., October 25, 2006; 26(43): 11052 - 11060. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 N. A. Tritos and E. G. Kokkotou The Physiology and Potential Clinical Applications of Ghrelin, a Novel Peptide Hormone Mayo Clin. Proc., May 1, 2006; 81(5): 653 - 660. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. J. Pulman, W. M. Fry, G. T. Cottrell, and A. V. Ferguson The Subfornical Organ: A Central Target for Circulating Feeding Signals J. Neurosci., February 15, 2006; 26(7): 2022 - 2030. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Teff Learning Hunger: Conditioned Anticipatory Ghrelin Responses in Energy Homeostasis Endocrinology, January 1, 2006; 147(1): 20 - 22. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Endocrinology | Endocrine Reviews | J. Clin. End. & Metab. |
| Molecular Endocrinology | Recent Prog. Horm. Res. | All Endocrine Journals |
