The radioisotopic technique has been recognized as the best method of measuring gastric emptying all over the world, but several problems which must be solved have remained in it.
The first is the confusion in the choice of a standard meal of ordinary food labeled with radioisotope. A meal for use in this studies must be reproducible in quality, and radioisotope must be homogenously distributed in it. It is necessary to consider the efficiency of examination, and to release a examinee's agony, therefore a meal must leave the stomach within the tolerable limits of a patient who keeps himself unshaken during measurement. If a liquid meal is used, we can easily make use of foods on the market. But, if a solid meal, a practical difficulty stands in front of us; Who prepares to cook it ? Unless this problem has been solved, the radioisotopic method is never found general acceptance as a clinical examination.
The second is the confusion in the choice of a posture during measurement. We must select such posture that never alter a patient's characteristics of his gastric emptying. For example, it is difficult to prove rapid evacuation in a patient with dumping syndrome, if we examine him in supine position.
A final problem is to re-examine what kinds of index are necessary to investigate the gastric emptying curve with many variations except of half-emptying time which has been used popularly as the index of the rate of it.
We gave an out-line of the methods of measuring gastric emptying using radioisotope and a suggestion of its some problems awaiting solution.

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The relaxant effects of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on the 3rd branches of renal arteries obtained from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP), and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were investigated in vitro. CGRP elicited concentration-dependent relaxation, and the relaxant response was not affected by the mechanical removal of endothelium in either SHRSP or WKY. The CGRP-induced relaxant response was markedly greater in SHRSP than in WKY, whereas there was no significant difference in acetylcholine-induced relaxation, which was endothelium-dependent, between the two groups. Additionally, significantly enhanced reactivity to CGRP was also shown in sponta-neously hypertensive rats compared to WKY; however, this reactivity was less than that observed in SHRSP.There were also no significant differences between WKY and SHRSP in the relaxation induced by forskolin, dibutyryl cyclic AMP, and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (IBMX). CGRP-induced relaxation was significantly potentiated in similar manner by the pretreatment with IBMX in both WKY and SHRSP.Incubation with glibenclamide (10^-6 M) had no effect on CGRP-induced relaxation in either group, the WKY or the SHRSP. These results suggest that CGRP produces endothelium-independent relaxation in the small renal arteries in the rat, and that the increased CGRP-induced relaxant response found in SHRSP may not be associated with the altered vasodilation mediated by cyclic AMP, or with functional changes in ATP-sensitive potassium channels.

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The validity of amplitude analysis was studied by means of vector analysis of cutaneous electrogastrography (EGG) recorded from two sets of bipolar electrodes placed at the upper abdomen. In a basic study on the dog, it was found that the vector locus area obtained by vector, analysis of EGG expresses contractile activity in the stomach, and that the extreme ellipsoid's long axis of EGG corresponds well to the electrical axis of the stomach. In a clinical study on the healthy male volunteers, vector analysis of EGG in response to gastroprokinetic and cold stress showed potential utility.
In summary, vector analysis of cutaneous EGG enables the measurement of gastric motor activity and the location of electrical axis, and is valuable in the evaluation of gastric motor activity together with the analysis of EGG frequency. In is concluded that cutaneous EGG is a simple, and clinically relevant technique for the measurement of functional abnormalities of the stomach.

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We examined postoperative adaptation and effects of J-pouch reservoir on ileo-proctos-tomy following total colectomy in dogs. End to end (E-E; n=5) or J-pouch (J-P; n=5) anastomosis was performed after resection of tatal colon and the rectum 3 cm above the peritoneal reflexion. Gastrointestinal motility with strain gauge force transducers (SG) and transit time with barium meal under the fluoroscopy were recorded 6 months after total colectomy. Then, histological changes of seven specimens from totally resected ileum in J-P and E-E vs control (normal ileum; n=5) were measured with hematoxylin-eosin and PYY immunohistochemical stains.
Propagation rate of interdigestive migrating complex (IMC) from jejunum to ileum was significantly lower in J-P (64.8±13.2%) than in E-E (98.6±1.2%) (p<0.001). Oro-neor-ectal transit time (ONTT) in E-E (138±10min) was shorter (p<0.05), but ONTT in J-P (189±26min) was significantly longer (p<0.01) than oro-caecal transit time (OCTT) in preoperative control (165±19min; n=10). There was no difference about length of villi among control, E-E and J-P, but length of crypts in J-P (0.59±0.08mm) was longer than that in E-E (0.27±0.02mm) and normal ileum (034±0.07mm) (p<0.01). PYY positive cells in J-P were more than in E-E and control at any site of ileum and total number of PYY postitve cells in J-P (168±18) significantly increased than that in E-E (111±16) and control (103±14) (p<0.05).
Thus, increase of PYY positive cells in J-P inhibits gastrointestinal motility and transit. Delayed transit time and crypts elongation were intestinal adaptation that assists the absorption of luminal contents. Therefore, it suggested that J-pouch reservoir had advantage to ileo-proctostomy following total colectomy in dogs.

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