Development of a drug for improving gastrointestinal motility using sunkus.

Keywords: gastrointestinal motility, gastric emptying, drug discovery, succinate, hormone

Gastrointestinal motility is intricately regulated by the brain-gut axis, which includes endocrine factors such as hormones, the autonomic nervous system, and the enteric nervous system. Among gastrointestinal motility, dysfunction of gastric contractions can lead to conditions such as bloating, functional gastrointestinal disorders, and diabetic gastroparesis. Since these conditions can decrease quality of life (QOL), elucidating the mechanisms of gastric motility and identifying factors that enhance or inhibit gastric motility have garnered attention from the perspectives of drug development and treatment methods. Rodents, such as mice and rats, are the most commonly used small experimental animals, but their gastrointestinal motility patterns differ significantly from those of humans. Research on gastrointestinal motility has primarily been conducted using dogs; however, due to their relatively large size and status as companion animals, research in this field has been delayed. Our laboratory has identified the insectivorous mammal, the tenrec, as a model for studying gastrointestinal motility and is conducting research on the regulation of gastric motility. So far, we have clarified the fundamental driving mechanisms of gastric contraction movements, which were previously unknown, including how gastrointestinal hormones such as motilin and ghrelin act cooperatively to stimulate strong gastric contractions, as well as the involvement of the vagus nerve, sympathetic nerves, and enteric nerves in gastric motility.

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