Digestive physiology of the pig symposium: secretion of gastrointestinal hormones and eating control

Nutrient ingestion triggers numerous changes in gastrointestinal (GI) peptide hormone secretion that affect appetite and eating. Evidence for these effects comes from research in laboratory animals, healthy humans, and, increasingly, obese patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery, which has marked effects on GI hormone function and is currently the most effective therapy for morbid obesity. Increases in cholecystokinin (CCK), glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and peptide tyrosine tyrosine (PYY) and decreases in ghrelin secretion after meals are triggered by changes in the nutrient content of the intestine. One apparent physiological function of each is to initiate a reflex-like feedback control of eating. Here we briefly review this function, with an emphasis on the controls of their secretion. Each is secreted from enteroendocrine cells that are directly or indirectly affected by caloric load, macronutrient composition, and other characteristics of ingested food such as fatty acid chain length. In addition, digestive hydrolysis is a critical mechanism that controls their secretion. Although there are relatively few data in agricultural animals, the generally consistent results across widely divergent mammals suggests that most of the processes described are also likely to be relevant to GI hormone functions and eating in agricultural animals.