The availability of pure intestinal hormones and the development of radioimmunoassays for their measurement has expedited research into many aspects of gastrointestinal endocrinology. A complex balance evidently exists between the different intestinal hormones and also the rest of the endocrine system. Polyendocrinopathies have been described, and, so far, two diseases due to intestinal hormone excess (Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and the syndrome of watery diarrhea, hypokalemia and achlorhydria) elucidated. It seems likely that many more gastrointestinal endocrine diseases await discovery.
纯肠道激素的可获得性以及用于其测量的放射免疫分析技术的发展，加速了对胃肠内分泌学诸多方面的研究。不同肠道激素之间以及与内分泌系统其他部分之间显然存在着复杂的平衡。已有多种内分泌腺病被描述，到目前为止，已阐明了两种因肠道激素过多引起的疾病（卓-艾综合征和水样腹泻、低钾血症与无胃酸综合征）。似乎很可能还有更多的胃肠内分泌疾病有待发现。
