Biliary infection is a common disease in the digestive system, can cause serious complications including sepsis. Among them, patients with severe biliary infections often have poor prognosis. It is reported that ghrelin play important roles in regulating inflammatory response, gastrointestinal motility, appetite, and endocrine. Recently the therapeutic role of ghrelin in the biliary infection has been studied. This article reviews the effects of ghrelin on inflammatory reaction and gastrointestinal dysmotility in biliary infections.

Objective:To explore the regulation effect and possible mechanism of transcutaneous electrical acustimulation (TEA) on the improvement of gastrointestinal motility and inflammation in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP).Methods:A randomized, single-blinded, sham-controlled study was performed. A total of 62 AP patients were randomly divided into the TEA group ( n=31) and sham-TEA group ( n=31), on the basis of regular treatment, who received TEA treatment at Neiguan (PC6) and Zusanli (ST36) or sham-TEA treatment at corresponding pseudo stimulation acupoints for 2 days. Abdominal distension score, time to first defecation, gastric slow wave, heart rate variability (low frequency and high frequency, reflecting sympathetic and vagal activity, respectively), serum level of tumor tecrosis factor (TNF)-α, plasma levels of motilin, ghrelin and vasoactive intestinal peptide(VIP) tested by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay were compared before and after the treatment. Wilcoxon rank test, Mann-Whitney U test, t-test and two factor repeated measurement analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis. Results:After the treatment, abdominal distension score of TEA group was lower than that of sham-TEA group(1 (0 to 2) vs.5(3 to 6)) and time to first defecation was earlier than that of sham-TEA group((55.00±24.27) h vs.(67.95±23.84) h), the percentage of normal gastric slow wave was higher than that of sham-TEA group((57.42±11.16)% vs. (40.92±8.52)%), and the differences were statistically significant ( Z=-4.95、 t=-2.12、 F=61.53, all P<0.05). After the treatment, the serum level of TNF-α of TEA group was significantly lower than that of sham-TEA group((4.27±1.28) ng/L vs.(6.19±2.03) ng/L), and the difference was statistically significant ( F=28.65, P<0.05). The ratio of post/pre-treatment of low frequency heart rate variability of the TEA group was significantly lower than that of sham-TEA group, however, the result of high frequency was opposite (0.87±0.18 vs.1.14±0.16, 1.19±0.18 vs.0.96±0.13), and the differences were statistically significant ( t=-6.22 and 5.74, both P<0.05). After the treatment, the plasma level of ghrelin of TEA group was higher than that of sham-TEA group ((2.02±0.62) μg/L vs. (0.93±0.49) μg/L), the VIP level was lower than of sham-TEA group ((30.58±12.20) μg/L vs.(44.35±29.52) μg/L), and the differences were statistically significant ( F=59.22 and 5.50, both P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in motilin levels between two groups ((24.57±9.58) ng/L vs. (22.75±9.58) ng/L, P>0.05). Conclusion:TEA treatment can improve gastrointestinal motility and inhibit the inflammation in early AP, which may be related with the regulation of autonomic function, gastrointestinal hormone ghrelin and VIP.