Abstract
We measured the plasma levels of acetaminophen (AAP) and gastrointestinal peptides (motilin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, and β-endorphin) during a gastric emptying test performed on a 64-year-old male patient with progressive autonomic failure and five healthy volunteers. Subjects received 200 ml of a test meal containing 1500 mg of AAP after an overnight fast. The plasma levels of AAP for the first 90 min and the AUC0→45minwere lower in the patient than in the normal subjects. The patient's levels of gastrointestinal peptides were also outside the normal ranges. These results demonstrated that the patient had delayed gastric emptying and that his gastric symptoms were thus predominantly due to parasympathetic disorders. After two-week therapy with cisapride, the AAP level increased and the levels of gastrointestinal peptides became normal or near-normal, thus suggesting cisapride to be effective in patients with progressive autonomic failure. These findings suggest that the monitoring of gastric emptying and the measurement of the gastrointestinal peptide levels were found to be useful for assessing the gastric function and for identifying the underlying mechanism of pathological conditions.
