INFLUENCE OF OBESTATIN ON THE GASTRIC LONGITUDINAL SMOOTH MUSCLE FROM MICE: MECHANICAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES

Obestatin is a hormone released from the stomach deriving from the same peptide precursor as ghrelin. It is known to act as an anorectic hormone decreasing food intake but contrasting results have been reported about the effects of obestatin on gastrointestinal motility. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this peptide may act on the gastric longitudinal smooth muscle by using a combined mechanical and electrophysiological approach. When fundal strips from mice were mounted in organ baths for isometric recording of the mechanical activity, obestatin caused a TTX-insensitive decrease of the basal tension and a reduction in amplitude of the neurally-induced cholinergic contractile responses even in the presence of the nitric oxide synthesis inhibitor L-N-nitro-arginine. Obestatin reduced the amplitude of the response to the ganglionic stimulating agent dimethylphenyl piperazinium iodide (DMPP) but did not influence that to methacholine. In non adrenergic, non-cholinergic conditions, obestatin still decreased the basal tension of the preparations without influencing the neurally-induced relaxant responses. For comparison, in circular fundal strips obestatin had no effects. Notably, in the longitudinal antral ones obestatin only caused a decrease of the basal tension. Electrophysiological experiments, performed by a single microelectrode inserted in a gastric longitudinal smooth muscle cell, showed that obestatin had similar effects in fundal and antral preparations: it decreased the resting specific membrane conductance (Gm/Cm), inhibited Ca2+ currents and positively shifted their voltage threshold of activation. In conclusion, the present results indicate that obestatin influences gastric smooth muscle exerting site-specific effects.