Expression Of Ghrelin In Gastrointestinal Tract Of Weanling Piglets And Its Role In The Regulation Of Gastric Functions

Ghrelin is a gut-brain peptide mainly secreted from gastric mucosa and plays multiple roles in regulating various physiological functions. However, its effect on gastric acid secretion is contradictory and still under debate. Retarded development of gastrointestinal tract and insufficient gastric acid secretion are major attributes to diarrhea in newborn piglets. Questions arise whether Ghrelin participates in the regulation of gastric acid secretion in weanling piglets, how to regulate gastric acid secretion, and whether recombinant expression plasmid of Ghrelin can be expressed in vivo to promote the gastric functions. In order to answer the above questions, we conducted the following experiments to elucidate the effects of Ghrelin on gastric acid secretion both in vivo and in vitro in weanling piglets, and to test the efficacy of intramuscular injection of recombinant expression plasmid pcDNA3-Ghrelin in the regulation of gastric growth and gastric function, using weanling mice as model.1 Expression of Ghrelin in gastrointestinal tract of weanling piglets in association with development of gastric functions - in vivo studyThe present study was designed to investigate the temporal and spatial patterns of Ghrelin mRNA expression in gastrointestinal tract of weanling piglets in association with the changes of gastric function with age and upon the depletion of endogenous somatostatin with dietary supplementation of cysteamine.18 litters of newborn piglets were divided randomly into control and treatment groups. From 12 days of age, piglets in treatment group were fed starter diet supplemented with 120 mg/kg cysteamine to deplete endogenous somatostatin (SS).