Aminophylline suppresses stress-induced visceral hypersensitivity and defecation in irritable bowel syndrome

Pharmacological therapy for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has not been established. In order to find candidate drugs for IBS with diarrhea (IBS-D), we screened a compound library of drugs clinically used for their ability to prevent stress-induced defecation and visceral hypersensitivity in rats. We selected the bronchodilator aminophylline from this library. Using a specific inhibitor for each subtype of adenosine receptors (ARs) and phosphodiesterases (PDEs), we found that both A(2B)ARs and PDE4 are probably mediated the inhibitory effect of aminophylline on wrap restraint stress (WRS)-induced defecation. Aminophylline suppressed maternal separation- and acetic acid administration-induced visceral hypersensitivity to colorectal distension (CRD), which was mediated by both A(2A)ARs and A(2B)ARs. We propose that aminophylline is a candidate drug for IBS-D because of its efficacy in both of stress-induced defecation and visceral hypersensitivity, as we observed here, and because it is clinically safe.