Gastric emptying

In the context of pre-clinical safety pharmacology, supplemental evaluations of gastrointestinal function are often limited to the assessment of gastrointestinal motility. Nevertheless, as new chemical entities may have diverse effects on the upper gastrointestinal system, additional and more specific measurements of gastric emptying are required.

The phenol red test, considered as the historic gold standard can detect both delayed and accelerated gastric emptying following test substance administration.

Acetaminophen, which is poorly absorbed in the stomach, is rapidly and almost completely absorbed in the small intestine. Serum acetaminophen levels therefore correlate closely with gastric emptying rate.

Indirect determination of gastric emptying by measurement of the time course of plasma acetaminophen levels after its oral administration in a liquid meal.

S. Goineau, P. Guillaume, V. Castagné. Comparison of the effects of clonidine, loperamide and metoclopramide in two models of gastric emptying in the rat. Fundam Clin. Pharmacol., 29  86-94, 2015.