[Comparative effects of ricinoleic acid and senna on orocecal and oroanal transit time in healthy subjects. Application of the salacylazosulfapyridine method]

Abstract

The appearance in plasma of sulphapyridine after oral administration of salicylazosulphapyridine (Salazopyrin) was shown to be useful for measuring the orocecal transit time in normal subjects. The purpose of this study was to use this method in diarrhea with accelerated intestinal transit time. A two-step study was performed in 12 healthy volunteers: a) under resting conditions; b) 2 weeks later with ricinoleic acid 40 ml (n = 6) or senna 19 mg (X-Prep = 1.2 g; n = 6) administration. In each step, Salazopyrin (2 g) and 20 radiopaque markers were ingested with a 200 kcal meal (Polydiet TCM = 200 ml). The following parameters were determined: a) plasmatic level of sulphapyridine (spectrophotometry) at 30 min intervals during 12 h; b) 2-day stool frequency and weight; c) oro-anal transit time (passage of the first marker and half of the markers in stools). In one subject, no sulphapyridine level was detected after administration of ricinoleic acid. With senna, 2 day stool frequency and weight increased by 80 and 131 percent respectively: orocecal transit time decreased from 6.1 +/- 1.3 to 4.8 +/- 1.2 h (m +/- SD; P less than 0.01) and oro-anal transit time (first marker) decreased from 31.8 +/- 9.6 to 20.7 +/- 8.9 (P less than 0.05). With ricinoleic acid, 2 day stool frequency and weight increased by 212 and 350 percent respectively; orocecal transit time decreased from 5.8 +/- 1.8 to 2.2 +/- 0.7 (P less than 0.01) and oroanal transit time (first marker) decreased from 25.3 +/- 7.1 to 8.0 +/- 6.8 h (P less than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)