Open AccessAbatement of Morphine-Induced Slowing in Gastrointestinal Transit by Dai-kenchu-to, a Traditional Japanese Herbal Medicine
Author(s) -
Tomonori Nakamura,
Akiko Sakai,
Issei Isogami,
Kazutaka Noda,
Koichi Ueno,
Shingo Yano
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
japanese journal of pharmacology/japanese journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1347-3506
pISSN - 0021-5198
DOI - 10.1254/jjp.88.217
Subject(s) - kampo , morphine , gastrointestinal transit , medicine , constipation , ileum , contraction (grammar) , gastrointestinal tract , traditional medicine , pharmacology , anesthesia , gastroenterology , pathology , alternative medicine
As a way of alleviating severe constipation in cancer patients taking morphine to relieve pain, effects of Dai-kenchu-to (DKT), a traditional Japanese herbal medicine (Kampo medicine), on gastrointestinal transit in mice or on the isolated guinea pig ileum were studied in special reference to morphine. Without altering the anti-nociceptive effect of morphine, DKT was significantly effective against morphine-induced disorder of gastrointestinal transit in mice as assessed by the charcoal meal test for the intestine and measurement of transit time for the colon tract. The results of in vitro studies with guinea pig ileum suggest that abatement of morphine-induced disorder of transit by DKT is caused by both moderate contraction of morphine-treated longitudinal muscle and relaxation of morphine-induced tonic contraction of circular muscle.