INDUCTION OF POSTPRANDIAL INTESTINAL MOTILITY AND RELEASE OF CHOLECYSTOKININ BY POLYAMINES IN RATS

Polyamines are known to play a major role in postprandial adaptation of the digestive tract. Experiments were designed to determine whether ingested polyamines induce change in intestinal motility associated with a cholecystokinin (CCK) release and whether endogenous polyamines are involved in the intestinal and colonic motor response to a meal. Intestinal and colonic motility was assessed in rats equipped with intestinal electrodes, and plasma CCK was determined using a bioassay. Orogastric administration of putrescine, spermidine, or spermine (20 mu mol) disrupted intestinal migrating myoelectric complexes (MMCs) and increased the frequency of colonic spike bursts. After a 6-day treatment with the ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor alpha-difluoromethylornithine, the duration of postprandial disruption of MMCs, but not the stimulation of colonic motility, induced by a 3-g meal was significantly reduced. The duration of MMC disruption and the increase in colonic spike burst frequency after spermidine administration (20 mu mol) were significantly reduced by CCK-A and CCK-B antagonists. Eight minutes after saline administration plasma CCK concentration was 0.9 +/- 0.4 pM; it rose to 4.7 +/- 2.8 pM, 8 min after spermidine (20 mu mol). These results indicate that exogenous polyamines disrupt intestinal MMCs and stimulate colonic motility through a release of CCK acting at CCK-A and CCK-B receptors and suggest that endogenous polyamines are involved in the postprandial central of intestinal motility.