Brief Article
Copyright ©2014 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 7, 2014; 20(9): 2383-2391
Published online Mar 7, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i9.2383
Endocrine cells in the ileum of patients with irritable bowel syndrome
Magdy El-Salhy, Odd Helge Gilja, Doris Gundersen, Jan Gunnar Hatlebakk, Trygve Hausken
Magdy El-Salhy, Section for Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Stord Helse-Fonna Hospital, 54 09 Stord, Norway
Doris Gundersen, Department of Research, Helse-Fonna, 55 01 Haugesund, Norway
Magdy El-Salhy, Odd Helge Gilja, Jan Gunnar Hatlebakk, Trygve Hausken, Section for Gastroenterology, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, 50 00 Bergen, Norway
Author contributions: El-Salhy M designed the study, performed research, analyzed the results, and wrote the manuscript; Gilja OH, Gundersen D, Hatlebakk JG and Hausken T contributed equally to the study design, analysis of the results, and commenting upon the manuscript; All the authors approved the submitted version of the manuscript.
Supported by A Grant from Helse-Fonna
Correspondence to: Magdy El-Salhy, Professor, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Section for Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Stord Helse-Fonna Hospital, Box 4000, 54 09 Stord, Norway. magdy.el-salhy@helse-fonna.no
Telephone: +47-53-491000 Fax: +47-53-491001
Received: September 10, 2013
Revised: October 20, 2013
Accepted: November 18, 2013
Published online: March 7, 2014
Processing time: 177 Days and 10.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The present study investigated for the first time the ileal endocrine cells in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). It included a relatively a large cohort of patients and comprising all the IBS subtypes, namely diarrhea (IBS-D), a mixture of both diarrhea and constipation (IBS-M) and constipation (IBS-C). It showed that the density of serotonin cells is reduced in patients with IBS, regardless of the subtype. On the other hand the density of peptide YY (PYY) cells in the ileum of IBS-D and IBS-M patients did not differ from that of controls, but was significantly elevated in those with IBS-C. It was concluded that the reduction of ileal serotonin cells may be connected to the visceral hypersensitivity seen in all IBS subtypes and that increase in the PYY cell density in IBS-C, would slow the intestinal transit and cause constipation.