Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a multifactorial gastrointestinal disorder with still not fully understood pathogenesis. At first, the treatment of IBS was mainly focused on alleviating symptoms (with the use of laxatives, anti-diarrheals, anti-spasmodics and painkillers) and then became more specific by targeting discovered pathways responsible for proper functioning of the gastrointestinal system, for in- stance: 5HT3, 5HT4, cannabinoid and opioid receptors, guanylyl cyclase C, chloride channels and sodium- hydrogen exchanger. Nowadays, there is a growing number of experimental IBS treatment strategies and in this article we discuss these novel and therapeutic options in IBS, their efficacy and future perspectives.
Keywords: drugs; experimental; irritable bowel syndrome; novel therapeutic approach; treatment.