Elisa Placidi1, Luca Marciani2, Caroline
L. Hoad1, Klara C. Garsed2, Susan E. Pritchard1,
Eleanor F. Cox1, Carolyn Costigan3, Robin C. Spiller2,
Penny A. Gowland1
1SPMMRC, University of
Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; 2Nottingham Digestive
Diseases Centre Biomedical Research Unit, Nottingham, United Kingdom; 3Brain
& Body Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
MRI was used to investigate the mode of action of anti-diarrheal drugs, loperamide and loperamide + simethicone, using a model of acute diarrhoea based on a mannitol drink. 18 healthy volunteers were imaged on a 1.5 T Philips Achieva scanner with several sequences up to 5 hours after the mannitol drink, to assess changes in the gut in terms of water content, volume, T2 and image signal intensity. Differences between the three conditions have been quantified, proving that the MRI technique optimised is efficient to investigate the response of the gut to drugs.
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