ABSTRACT
Objective To reveal the changes of pre-and post-prandial sigmoid colon motility in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and healthy comtrols.Methods Twenty consitipation-predominant and sex/age mathched 20 diarrhea-predominant IBS patients and 15 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the experiment.Migrating long spike bursts,and nonmigrating long spike bursts were recorded by a water perfusing manometry apparatus connected with a computer.Results In fasting status,diarrhea-predominant IBS patients had higher motor index mainly due to the elevated wave amplitude and the percentage of the recording time of the migrating long spike bursts.The test meal significantly increased the amplitude and the number of migrating and nonmigrating long spike bursts in all subjects,especially in the volunteers in the first half hour.The gastrosigmoidocolic reflex of the diarrhea-predominant IBS patients lasted longer than that of the consitipation-predominant IBS patients and healthy controls,mainly due to the increased amplitude of migrating long spike bursts and the number of nonmigrating long spike bursts.Conclusion Diarrhea-predominant IBS patients have stronger sigmoid colon motility in fasting state.The gastrosigmoidocolic reflex appears earlier in healthy subjects than in IBS patients and it lasts longer in diarrhea-predominant IBS patients than in consitipation-predominant IBS patients and healthy controls.