Effect of bethanechol or erythromycin on gastric emptying in horses.

The research explored the effect of bethanechol and erythromycin on the gastric emptying rate in horses. The study found that these drugs significantly improved the process and could be beneficial as prokinetic agents for certain gastrointestinal diseases.

Research Methodology

• The researchers involved four healthy adult horses for the study.
• The horses were made to fast for 12 hours prior to the experiment.
• Thereafter, they were fed with a radioactive meal containing 370 MBq of 99mTc-labeled sulfur colloid and egg albumen, and 37 MBq of 111In-labeled diethyltriaminepentaacetic acid in 120 ml of water through a nasogastric tube.
• This was followed by intravenous treatments of 0.9% NaCl solution, erythromycin (dosed at 0.1 or 1.0 mg/kg body weight), or bethanechol (dosed at 0.25 mg/kg). All treatments were administered in 10 ml of 0.9% NaCl solution.
• Gastric emptying process in the horses was then captured using a gamma camera for dual-phase scintigraphic images. These images provided data on the amount and rate of gastric emptying.

Data Analysis

• The data from the tests were analyzed using the least squares nonlinear regression method, resulting in best-fit functions for each study.
• The team derived the time to 50% emptying of the stomach (T-50) and the slope of the emptying curve from the calculated power exponential equation. These variables served as indicators of the gastric emptying process.

Results

• All treatments showed a significant effect on the T-50 timing of solid-phase gastric emptying. Specifically, T-50 timings for bethanechol (30.09 +/- 10.01 minutes) and erythromycin (59.08 +/- 10.01 minutes for 0.1mg/kg and 60.50 +/- 10.01 minutes for 1 mg/kg) were considerably shorter than the T-50 after saline administration (89.97 +/- 10.01 minutes).
• There was a statistical trend showing the slope of solid-phase gastric emptying of bethanechol and lower dose erythromycin to be steeper than the saline solution. This indicates more efficient and quicker gastric emptying.
• For liquid-phase gastric emptying, both T-50 and slope for bethanechol had significant differences compared to saline solution.

Conclusions

• The study posits major significance for both bethanechol and erythromycin as they increased the solid-phase gastric emptying rate in healthy horses.
• These results suggest that these drugs could be used as prokinetic agents in treating certain diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.