Studies on the Process of Gastric Emptying

The process of gastric emptying is incompletely understood. It is not known which variables of the gastric and duodenal motility play an important role in regulating gastric emptying, especially the function of the pylorus is unclear. In recent studies on resistances controlling gastric emptying of liquid meals it was suggested that the resistance of the small intestine might be the dominant factor in regulating gastric evacuation (1). However, the elimination of gastric variables by the barostat method, by antrectomy or pylorectomy might produce unphysiological results because the function of the gastric, pyloric and duodenal motility can be compensated by the others. In order to elucidate the regulating mechanisms under physiological conditions we investigated the effect of nutrients and hormones on canine gastric, pyloric and duodenal motility and on gastric emptying by transducer recordings and simultaneous radiography.