Gender influences sphincter of oddi response to cholecystokinin in the prairie dog. Tierney, Sean, Zhiping Qian, Babbington Yung, Pamela A. Lipsett, Henry A. Pitt, Samuel Sostre, Keith D. Lillemoe. Departments of Surgery and Division of Nuclear Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD 21287
APStracts 2:0085G, 1995.
Although gallstones and disorders of biliary tract motility are both more common in women than men, sphincter of Oddi motility has not previously been compared between the sexes. In this study, cholescintigraphy (under ketamine and diazepam anesthesia) was used to determine gallbladder emptying rate and ejection fraction in response to cholecystokinin (CCK) in eight male and six female prairie dogs fed a non-lithogenic diet. Ten days later, under [alpha]-chloralose anesthesia, sphincter of Oddi phasic wave activity was monitored for 10 minute intervals before (control), during 20 minutes of CCK infusion, and for 20 minutes after infusion. Gallbladder emptying rate and ejection fraction and baseline sphincter of Oddi frequency, amplitude, and motility index (MI=FxA) did not differ significantly between the sexes. Sphincter of Oddi phasic wave frequency was increased during CCK infusion in both males and females but the change in amplitude was significantly greater in females than males. We conclude that the increased incidence of biliary tract disease in women may be due to altered sphincter of Oddi hormonal response.

Received 19 September 1994; accepted in final form 25 April 1995.
APS Manuscript Number G359-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Gastrointest. Liver
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on  9 May 1995.