Effects of Chinese herbal medicine Xiangbin prescription on gastrointestinal motility

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the XBP and placebo groups

	XBP(n = 30)	Placebo(n = 10)	t	P value
Gender (n)
Male	21	5		0.677
Female	9	5
Age (mean ± SD)	24.1 ± 2.20	24.0 ± 2.00	0.073	0.536
BMI (mean ± SD)	20.6 ± 2.11	20.7 ± 1.65	-0.039	0.969

XBP: Xiangbin prescription; BMI: Body mass index.

Table 2 Gastrointestinal motility variables before and after placebo or Xiangbin prescription administration

MMC	Before placebo (n = 10)	After placebo (n = 10)	Before XBP (n = 30)	After XBP (n = 30)
Number	2.0 (1-3)	1.5 (1-3)	2.0 (1-3)	2.0 (1-4)
Cycle (min)	125.0 (30.0-178.0)	70.0 (51.0-104.0)	116.5 (24.0-219.0)	74.0 (30.0-118.0)ac
Duration of phase I (min)	81.0 (40.0-168.0)	111.5 (42.0-171.0)	82.5 (25.0-180.0)	42.0 (0.0-90.0)bd
Duration of phase II (min)	56.5 (21.0-154.0)	58.0 (16.0-170.0)	50.0 (15.0-134.0)	120.0 (21.0-240.0)bd
Duration of phase III (min)
Distal stomach	3.2 (2.0-4.0)	2.7 (1.3-3.7)	3.0 (2.1-7.1)	3.7 (1.9-15.6)
Duodenum	2.8 (2.2-3.9)	2.5 (1.3-4.9)	3.2 (1.5-8.2)	3.6 (1.5-5.5)a
Jejunum	2.9 (1.5-3.9)	2.8 (1.3-3.9)	2.4 (1.4-6.2)	2.5 (1.3-5.2)
Frequency of phase III
Distal stomach	2.8 (2.3-3.4)	2.7 (2.3-2.9)	2.7 (2.4-3.1)	2.9 (1.2-4.7)
Duodenum	10.1 (8.8-11.1)	9.9 (8.9-10.9)	10.0 (6.9-11.4)	10.2 (8.4-11.5)a
Jejunum	10.0 (8.1-12)	9.9 (8.9-10.9)	10.1 (4.2-11.1)	10.5 (7.8-19.0)a
Amplitude of phase III (mmHg)
Distal stomach	31.5 (24.0-50.3)	29.1 (21.0-41.5)	46.4 (30.0-60.7)	49.5 (33.7-72.7)c
Duodenum	21.5 (14.0-25.7)	19.0 (13.7-27.0)	21.0 (14.5-28.8)	21.3 (13.5-28.0)
Jejunum	17.8 (16.0-22.7)	17.3 (14.3-27.0)	18.0 (13.0-28.5)	19.8 (14.0-30.7)a
MI
MI of phase III (mmHg/min)
Distal stomach	140.0 (74.0-220.0)	96.5 (55.0-117.0)	134.5 (51.0-224.0)	132.0 (48.0-218.0)
Duodenum	197.0 (125.0-324.0)	120.0 (74.0-312.0)	195.0 (109.0-310.0)	236.0 (115.0-306.0)ad
Jejunum	202.0 (129.0-325.0)	151.0 (101.0-295.0)	178.0 (55.0-304.0)	214.0 (95.0-403.0)b
Amplitude of phase II (mmHg)
Distal stomach	20.0 (14.0-24.0)	16.3 (13.0-18.0)	18.7 (14.0-22.0)	19.0 (12.5-56.7)
Duodenum	18.2 (14.0-20.0)	19.5 (14.3-22.0)	16.9 (12.3-23.9)	19.5 (13.0-26.7)ad
Jejunum	15.3 (13.7-20.8)	16.9 (15.1-18.0)	15.4 (11.7-23.9)	18.3 (15.3-25.0)bd
MI of phase II (mmHg/30 min)
Distal stomach	170.0 (13.0-480.0)	128.0 (90.0-204.0)	157.5 (24.0-444.0)	169.0 (20.0-1080.0)
Duodenum	264.5 (154.0-432.0)	189.0 (57.0-403.0)	281.0 (76.5-1006.0)	522.0 (146.0-1392.0)bd
Jejunum	378.0 (126.0-456.0)	187.0 (39.0-447.0)	226.0 (51.0-1099.0)	483.0 (100.0-2076.0)bd

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.001 vs before XBP;

^cP < 0.05,

^dP < 0.01 vs after placebo. XBP: Xiangbin prescription; MMC: Migratory motor complex; MI: Motility index.

Table 3 Plasma concentrations of motilin and ghrelin before and after xiangbin prescription or placebo administration (pg/mL)

	XBP			Placebo
	Before	After	P value	Before	After	P value
Motilin	51.37 ± 6.60	57.69 ± 9.03	< 0.001	50.11 ± 9.9	49.38 ± 8.63	0.179
Ghrelin	229.1 ± 83.27	279.20 ± 104.31	< 0.001	232.45 ± 97.38	238.73 ± 111.59	0.293