Opiates are indispensable for the treatment of moderate to severe pain. The gastrointestinal tract is one of the major victims of the undesired effects of opiates, because the enteric nervous system expresses all major subtypes of opioid receptors. As a result, propulsive motility and secretory processes in the gut are inhibited by opioid analgesics, and the ensuing constipation is one of the m...

The majority of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients have gastrointestinal tract involvement, but therapies of prokinetic agents are usually unsatisfactory. Patients are often compromised by the use of steroid; therefore, a surgical indication including fundoplication has been controversial. There is no report that advanced SSc with severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is successfully tre...

Feeding intolerance resulting from delayed gastric emptying is common in premature neonates. Metoclopramide (MCP), the most frequently used prokinetic drug in neonates, enhances gastric muscle contractility through inhibition of dopamine receptors. Although its therapeutic benefit is established in adults, limited data are available to support its clinical use in infants. Hypothesizing that dev...

The aim of the study was to investigate sonographically the effect of Gongronema latifolium on gastric emptying of semi-solid meals in diabetic dogs. Twenty-five alloxan-induced diabetic dogs were randomly allotted into five groups of five dogs each in a randomised placebo-controlled study. These are placebo, prokinetic dose, low dose, moderate dose and high dose groups. The placebo group serve...

BACKGROUND AND AIM Colonoscopy plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal illness in both Western countries and Japan. However, preparative bowel cleansing for colonoscopy is frequently troublesome for elderly and/or constipated patients, since they must drink larger volumes of lavage solution for adequate cleansing. We investigated the use of prokinetic agents f...

Background This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the position of an acetic acid-induced gastric ulcer and the effects of prokinetic drugs on gastric emptying. Materials and Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. Acetic acid ulcers were induced either in the region between the fundus and pylorus on the anterior wall of the stomach or in the glandular region on the greate...

OBJECTIVE To review the pathophysiology of gastroparesis and present a practical approach to the management of this disorder in the critically ill patient. DATA SOURCES Articles and published abstracts on the mechanisms and management gastroparesis relevant to the critically ill patient. SUMMARY OF REVIEW The importance of early enteral nutrition in the critically ill patient has been recog...

The order Psittaciformes (parrots) has unique morphological features in the head that are evolutionarily novel. To better understand the unique evolution of the head in parrots, the developmental pattern of the skull of the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) was initially described on the basis of transparent skeletal specimens. Although the fundamental pattern of the skull development of bir...

AIM OF THE STUDY To provide ethnopharmacological basis for the medicinal use of Lepidium sativum seeds in indigestion and constipation. MATERIALS AND METHODS The in vivo studies were conducted in mice, while isolated tissues of mouse, guinea-pig and rabbit were suspended in tissue bath to measure isotonic contractions. RESULTS The aqueous-methanolic extract of Lepidium sativum seeds (Ls.Cr)...

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are highly prevalent in populations worldwide and the development of effective and safe drug treatments for GI motility disorders has proven challenging. In this study, taking advantage of the transparency of larval zebrafish, we developed a novel zebrafish GI motility model for drug screening and efficacy assessment. METHODS Zebrafish at 5 ...