Rikkunshito and Ghrelin Secretion

Hiroshi      Takeda; Shuichi      Muto; Koji      Nakagawa; Shunsuke      Ohnishi; Masahiro      Asaka

doi:10.2174/138161212803216933

Abstract

Rikkunshito is a kampo herbal medicine which is widely used in Japan for the treatment of the upper gastrointestinal symptoms of patients with functional dyspepsia (FD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), dyspeptic symptoms of postgastrointestinal surgery patients, and chemotherapy-induced dyspepsia in cancer patients. Recently, very unique characteristics of rikkunshito have been unveiled; oral administration of rikkunshito potentiates orexigenic action of ghrelin through several different mechanisms. In addition, several lines of evidence obtained from both animal and human studies indicate that rikkunshito can be an attractive and promising therapeutic option for the anorectic conditions including cisplatin-induced dyspepsia, anorexia of aging, stress-induced hypophagia, cancer cachexia-anorexia syndrome. In this review, we will highlight what is known about the orexigenic effect of rikkunshito with a special focus on an interaction with ghrelin signaling system.

Keywords: Rikkunshito, ghrelin, GHSR1a, serotonin 2B-receptor, serotonin 2C-receptor, phosphodiesterase 3, carboxylesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, functional dyspepsia (FD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).