Importance of the jejunal hormone motilin.

In 1935, Shay and Gershon-Cohen showed that luminal perfusion of the duodenum of human subjects with sodium bicarbonate solution produced a rapid emptying of a barium sulphate meal from the stomach. More recently it was shown by Brown et al. (1966) that, in the dog, the instillation of alkaline solutions into the duodenum also increased motor activity in denervated, transplanted gastric pouches. A similar response was also observed after the instillation of pig pancreatic juice into the denervated pouch. The authors suggested that the alkaline solutions either prevented the release of an inhibitory hormone or released a stimulatory agent for motor activity. Brown et al. in 1971, using as starting material a peptide fraction produced as a byproduct during the purification of secretin on carboxymethyl cellulose, reported on the preliminary stages of purification of the motor-stimulating material. The purification showed that it was a polypeptide which was given the name motilin.