Development of MRI Protocols to Assess Gastrointestinal Motility With Concomitant Perfused Manometry Validation in Healthy Volunteers

The gastrointestinal (GI) environment where drug products dissolve has not been studied in detail due to limitations, especially invasiveness of existing techniques. Hence little in vivo data on GI fluids and motility is available to improve relevance of predictive dissolution models and bench dissolution techniques. Recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods could provide novel data and insights. On-going studies at the University of Michigan and at the University of Nottingham, using advanced, validated, quantitative MRI techniques have already shown that GI fluid (water) volumes can be measured. The classical method for measuring GI motility is via a manometric method involving intubation, but it is possible to measure GI motility with MRI. Based on our MRI motility pilot data and on the literature available, this study aims to test the main hypotheses that in healthy adult participants the new MRI method has the potential to replace current manometric study protocols and will allow a simultaneous measurement of gastrointestinal motility and fluid volumes in the gut during the fasted state. This will establish a solid and unprecedented base of in vivo results upon which to base advances in oral pharmaceutical product science. For this initial study, the study objectives are therefore: 1. To validate the MRI motility method with concomitant perfused manometry method in healthy adult participants. 2. To measure exploratory endpoints of interest including GI fluid volumes. Twenty one adult healthy volunteers will participate in this replicated study. We will pass a thin perfused manometry tube via the nose into the gut of the participants and then take MRI images of abdominal areas while bowel motility is being measured via a tube manometric method to see how they compare. We will be able also to measure the volume of fluids in the gut.