Effects of ghrelin on interdigestive contractions of the rat gastrointestinal tract

Figure 1 Effect of ghrelin infusion (0. 8 μg/kg per min) on spontaneous phase III-like contractions in conscious rats. Two minutes after finishing the spontaneous phase III-like contractions in the antrum, acyl ghrelin (0.8 μg/kg per min) was continuously infused for 30 min. Three-five minutes after starting the ghrelin infusion, phase III-like contractions were observed in response to ghrelin infusion at the antrum, duodenum, jejunum-1 and jejunum-2 (▲ indicates phase III-like contractions).

Figure 2 Effect of ghrelin on % changes of MI of phase III-like contractions of GI tract (^aP < 0. 05 vs saline, n = 5). Ghrelin infusion (0.8, 2.4 and 8.0 μg/kg) dose-dependently increased MI of phase III-like contractions of the antrum and jejunum (^aP < 0.05 vs saline, n = 5).