Interdigestive motilin secretion and gallstone disease.

Plasma motilin concentrations were measured in eight controls and 11 patients with radiolucent gallstones over a period of 3-4 h following an overnight fast. In five of these patients the interdigestive motor complex (IDMC) was studied simultaneously. The results indicate: a) cyclical changes of plasma motilin concentrations (mean cycle duration 110 +/- 9.9 and 102 +/- 8.4 min, means +/- SEM) and a significant correlation between the basal intercyclical motilin concentrations and the age (p less than 0.02) in the controls and the gallstone patients studied, and b) a significant correlation between the maximal motilin increase and the age in the controls (p less than 0.01) but not in the gallstone patients. The results therefore suggest a different behaviour of the interdigestive motilin patterns in controls and gallstone patients. As the motilin cycles were accompanied in 90% with an IDMC in the five patients studied this conclusion might include an abnormal interdigestive motor activity within the intestinal tract in gallstone patients.