Contribution of different triggers to the gastric accommodation reflex in humans

Abstract

Accommodation of the stomach consists of a vagally mediated relaxation of the proximal stomach, providing the meal with a reservoir. Our aim was to study whether, similar to other vagally mediated processes, the accommodation reflex is also determined by cephalic, oropharyngeal, gastric, and intestinal phases. Eleven healthy subjects underwent in randomized order five gastric barostat studies and two satiety drinking tests. In all studies, isobaric tone measurements (at minimal distending pressure + 2 mmHg) were performed 20 min before and 20 min after a nutrient stimulus. The stimuli included only visual and olfactory exposure to a meal (cephalic stimulation), taking liquid nutrient in the mouth without swallowing (sham feeding), ingestion of a 200-ml 300-kcal nutrient meal with blocked outflow to the pylorus (gastric retention), and meal infusion through a nasointestinal tube (duodenal instillation), or normal ingestion (control). During satiety testing, subjects ingested liquid nutrient at a fixed rate of 15 ml/min until maximum satiety, with an inflated or deflated intrapyloric balloon assembly. Progressively bigger gastric relaxatory responses were seen with cephalic stimulation (18 ± 19 ml), sham feeding (54 ± 21 ml), gastric retention (95 ± 47), duodenal instillation (144 ± 33), and control (232 ± 33 ml). The amount of nutrient ingested at maximum satiety was significantly lower with an inflated intrapyloric balloon (1,223 ± 103 vs. 1,392 ± 124 ml, P < 0.05). The accommodation reflex in humans lacks a cephalic phase, but it can be activated from the oropharynx, the stomach, and the duodenum. Blocking passage to the duodenum significantly decreases the amplitude of the accommodation reflex and induces early satiety.