Effect of gastric distension with concurrent small intestinal saline or glucose infusion on incretin hormone secretion in healthy individuals - a randomised, controlled, cross-over study.

Abstract

Aims There is increasing interest in the use of intragastric balloons as a weight loss procedure, however, the underlying mechanism(s) remain unclear. In rodents, gastric distension has recently been shown to stimulate the secretion of the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) substantially, but the effect of gastric distension on GLP-1 and the other incretin hormone, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), in humans is not known. We conducted a randomized, controlled, crossover study to evaluate the effect of gastric distension, induced using a gastric 'barostat' on incretin hormones in healthy individuals Materials and methods Eight healthy participants (2 female, 6 male, mean age 69.3±1.2 years, and body mass index 23.5±0.8 kg/m²) were each studied on four occasions when they received an intraduodenal infusion of either (i) 0.9% saline or (ii) glucose delivered at a rate of 3 kcal/min both with, and without, an intragastric balloon with the pressure set to 8 mmHg above the intragastric minimum distending pressure. Results Following intraduodenal saline or glucose infusion, there was no difference in plasma GLP-1 with or without gastric distension (P=1.00 for both saline and glucose infusions). There was also no difference in plasma GIP with or without gastric distension (P=1.00 for saline infusion and P=0.99 for glucose infusion). Conclusion We conclude that gastric distension, either alone or during small intestinal glucose exposure, does not stimulate incretin hormone secretion significantly in healthy humans. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.