Endocrinology >>>> Gastrointestinal hormones - digestion problems

Gastrointestinal hormones - digestion problems.

We get used to associating digestive problems with disorders of the organs: liver, pancreas, duodenum, thyroid gland. We are being treated with diets or abstinence from eating many foods on the verge of starvation, we are looking for the causes of poor digestion in stress. But there is another side of the digestive process - hormonal regulation of the work of the digestive system and all biochemical reactions of digestion.

The usual boundaries of knowledge about digestion are now pushed apart by the study of gastrointestinal hormones (GI hormones) - the hormones of digestion. It turns out that all digestive problems converge on the point of the effectiveness of the work of gastrointestinal hormones. These hormones are produced by peripheral cells of the endocrine system, scattered throughout the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, and are ultimately responsible for the correct course of digestion. Gastrointestinal hormones include secretin, gastrin, enteroglucagon, cholecystokinin-pancreosimin, pancreatic polypeptide, gastrointestinal peptide, motilin, somatostatin, vasoactive intestinal peptide.

The functions of gastrointestinal hormones extend to the smooth functioning of the secretions of the stomach and intestines; on well-functioning intestinal motility; on the process of absorption of nutrients along the entire gastrointestinal tract; on full-fledged tissue trophism (cell nutrition). These hormones are capable of affecting the organs of internal secretion (pancreas, liver, adrenal glands, thyroid gland), and also have the ability to neurotransmission - the transmission of nerve impulses to target cells, thereby stimulating cellular metabolism.

Many eating disorders are directly related to disruptions in the synthesis of gastrointestinal hormones. Allergies and intolerances to certain foods, low or high acidity of the stomach, enzymatic insufficiency, disturbances in the tone of the intestinal walls and sphincters are the result of ineffective work of gastrointestinal hormones. Almost all diseases of the digestive system are somehow associated with disorders in the production of gastrointestinal hormones.

Among the various hormonal disorders, gastrointestinal hormonal disorders can also be observed, which can be identified by tests for a specific type of hormone.

Treatment of gastrointestinal hormonal disorders involves symptomatic therapy: medication and hardware, depending on whether there are functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract (intestinal motility disorders, sphincter dysfunctions) or disrupted biochemical processes (fermentation and absorption) regulated by this group of hormones.

Drug treatment involves taking drugs that stimulate or inhibit the synthesis of gastrointestinal hormones. Apparatus methods of treatment are aimed at impulse stimulation of intestinal motility and strengthening or weakening of the sphincters of the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, diets are being developed in which the predominant place is occupied by products with a chemically active composition of substances that can stimulate or inhibit the synthesis of these hormones.