Fig. 1.

Time course of changes in plasma acyl and desacyl ghrelin levels induced by abdominal surgery in overnight-fasted rats implanted with an intrajugular catheter. After abdominal surgery or sham procedure (anesthesia alone) under 10-min isoflurane exposure, repeated blood samplings were performed through the catheter in conscious rats before and at 2, 5, 7, and 24 h postprocedure and processed for acyl (A) and total ghrelin measurement. Desacyl ghrelin (B) was calculated as the difference of total minus acyl ghrelin for each individual sample. The percentages of changes from basal values in plasma acyl and desacyl ghrelin levels induced by abdominal surgery are shown in C. Each bar represents the means ± SE of 5 rats/group. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, and ***P < 0.001 vs. sham at respective time point; #P < 0.05 and ##P < 0.01 vs. respective group at time point 0 h.