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Cholecystokinin—From Local Gut Hormone to Ubiquitous Messenger

After the discovery in 1928, CCK became part of the classical troika of gut hormones together with secretin and gastrin. The last decades, however, have shown that CCK, in addition to its local acute functions in digestion (gallbladder emptying and pancreatic enzyme secretion), is also a growth factor, a neurotransmitter in the brain and peripheral neurons, and besides, it may be a spermatozoan fertility factor, a natriuretic kidney peptide, an anti-inflammatory cytokine in the immune system, and a cardiac marker of heart failure. The long history has made the CCK literature comprehensive and at some points also confusing because impure CCK preparations with little attention paid to species…

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 Cholecystokinin - An Overview

Along with having an impact on the digestive system, CCK also affects temperament, anxiety, memory, and addiction. Numerous diseases, such as gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, and mental health issues, could benefit from the therapeutic use of CCK. All of these areas require additional study, but CCK raises intriguing prospects for novel therapies and strategies to enhance human health.

Articles of Interest

Cholecystokinin

In 1928, Ivy and Oldberg discovered that intestinal extracts prepared after instilling weak acid or fats into the proximal duodenum, elicited gallbladder contraction in dogs, cats, and guinea pigs. Based on this biological property, the hormone was named cholecystokinin (CCK). In addition to gallbladder contraction, CCK was later shown to stimulate pancreatic secretion and to delay gastric emptying by its effect on the lower esophageal sphincter

Cholecystokinin and the hormone concept

In retrospect, it may be surprising that so many bile secretion studies over almost a century did not ignite the idea that the upper small intestine harbored a specific bile-releasing hormone, different from secretin. Therefore, further experiments were necessary in order to rule out a possible bile-secretagogue activity of secretin. Such studies were eventually performed by Andrew Ivy and colleagues in Chicago in the late 1920s

Roles of Cholecystokinin in the Nutritional Continuum. Physiology and Potential Therapeutics

Cholecystokinin is a gastrointestinal peptide hormone with important roles in metabolic physiology and the maintenance of normal nutritional status, as well as potential roles in the prevention and management of obesity, currently one of the dominant causes of direct or indirect morbidity and mortality.

Resources

StatPearls

Obesity blunts the effect of CCK, which means there is insensitivity of vagal afferent neurons to CCK. This reduced expression of CCK accounts for reduced effect on satiety and the fact that most obese people always complain about feeling hungry.

VIVO Pathophysiology

Cholecystokinin plays a key role in facilitating digestion within the small intestine. It is secreted from mucosal epithelial cells in the first segment of the small intestine (duodenum), and stimulates delivery into the small intestine of digestive enzymes from the pancreas and bile from the gallbladder. Cholecystokinin is also produced by neurons in the enteric nervous system, and is widely and abundantly distributed in the brain.

You and Your Hormones

Cholecystokinin used to be known as pancreozymin due to its actions on the pancreas but now it is commonly abbreviated to CCK; CCK-PZ