Patent ID: 7081239

Claim:
A method of manipulating the rate of upper gastrointestinal transit of a substance in a mammal having an intrinsic cholinergic afferent neural pathway projecting from a peptide YY-sensitive primary sensory neuron in the intestinal wall to a prevertebral celiac ganglion and having an adrenergic efferent neural pathway projecting from said ganglion to one or more enterochromaffin cells in the intestinal mucosa and/or to a serotonergic interneuron linked in a myenteric plexus and/or submucous plexus to an opioid interneuron, said opioid intemeuron also being linked by an intestino-fugal opioid pathway projecting to said ganglion, with one or more neural connections to the central nervous system and back to the gut projecting from the ganglion, said method comprising: providing a pharmaceutically acceptable composition, comprising an active agent selected from the group consisting of (A) peptide YY, and (B) antagonists of receptors for (A); and administering the pharmaceutically acceptable composition to the mammal, said active agent being delivered in an amount and under conditions such that the cholinergic intestino-fugal pathway, at least one prevertebral ganglionic pathway, the adrenergic efferent neural pathway, the serotonergic intemeuron and/or the opioid interneuron are activated by the action of (A), whereby the rate of upper gastrointestinal transit is slowed, or such that activation of the cholinergic intestino-fugal pathway, at least one prevertebral ganglionic pathway, the adrenergic efferent neural pathway, the serotonergic intemeuron and/or the opioid intemeuron is blocked by the action of (B), whereby the rate of upper gastrointestinal transit is accelerated.