Physiol Beha. 2023 Jul 17;270:114293. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023.114293.Online ahead of print.

André Schulz ¹, Sina-Katharina Welsch ², Sarah Etringer ², Greta Hansen ², Léa Milbert ², Jochen Schneider ³, Gennaro Taddei ⁴, Raquel Gomez Bravo ², Charilaos Lygidakis ², Zoé van Dyck ², Annika Lutz ², Paul Wilmes ⁵, Claus Vögele ²

Author information

¹Clinical Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; Institute for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Trier University, Trier, Germany. Electronic address: andre.schulz@uni.lu.

²Clinical Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

³Saarland University Medical Center, Department of Internal Medicine II, Homburg/Saar, Germany; Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; Department of Gastroenterology, Centre Hospitalier Emile Mayrisch, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

⁴Department of Gastroenterology, Centre Hospitalier Emile Mayrisch, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

⁵Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

Abstract

Objective: Visceral hypersensitivity is considered a key symptom in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), both of which seriously affect health-related quality of life (HrQoL). Previous findings are mostly based on invasive procedures that may interfere with the assessment of visceral perception. The current study, therefore, investigates whether IBD and IBS are characterized by altered perception of 'natural' gastric distensions ('interoception').

Methods: Twenty IBD patients in remission (13 Crohn's disease, 7 ulcerative colitis), 12 IBS patients, and 20/12 matched healthy control (HC) individuals, respectively, underwent the water load test, in which they could drink ad libitum until the subjective thresholds of satiation (stage 1) and fullness (stage 2) were reached. Gastric motility was assessed using electrogastrography.

Results: IBD patients drank significantly more water until satiation than IBS patients, whereas no differences between patients and HC groups were observed. Electrogastrographic patterns were comparable between groups, suggesting no pathologies in gastric motility in IBD or IBS. The amount of water consumed until satiation negatively correlated with HrQoL related to bowel symptoms in IBD patients, but was positively associated with emotional well-being in IBS patients.

Conclusion: Our findings implicate relative gastric hypersensitivity in IBS, and relative hyposensitivity in IBD patients, which are both related to specific HrQoL aspects.