Gut peptides and postprandial satiety.

In the past 10 years, numerous gut peptides have been tested for their satiating effect on food intake. Cholecystokinin (CCK), bombesin, pancreatic glucagon, and somatostatin have the best supporting evidence for such a specific behavioral effect. The satiety effect of CCK, somatostatin, and glucagon is abolished or markedly reduced by abdominal vagotomy, but the satiety effect of bombesin is not. The effect of vagotomy has been interpreted as the result of the loss of vagal afferent fibers that are necessary for carrying information about visceral effects of these peptides to the brain. This hypothesis is under active investigation. There are three reports that CCK decreases the size of a test meal in lean and obese humans. This suggests that CCK or the other peptides may be useful in treating human obesity and bulimia.