AIM:To investigate the level of gastric ghrelin in stomach mucosa of dyspeptic patients in relation to Helicobacter pylori(H pylori)infection,bacterial cytotoxicity,topography and gender. METHODS:The study comprised 40 premenopausal women(19 H pylori positive)and 48 men(17 H pylori positive)with functional dyspepsia.All gastric biopsy specimens revealed normal mucosa or non-atrophic gastritis.Gastric ghrelin concentration was determined by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay.The cagA and vacA strains of bacterial DNA were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS:In general,infection with H pylori causedan increase in gastric ghrelin level regardless of gender and stomach topography.Significantly more hormone was present in both,noninfected and H pylori positive female samples,as compared to males.The distribution of bacterial strains showed cagA(+)vacA s1m1 and cagA(-)vacA s2m2 genotypes as the most common infections in the studied population.A tendency to higher ghrelin levels was observed in less cytotoxic (cagA negative)strain-containing specimens from the antrum and corpus of both gender groups(without statistical significance). CONCLUSION:An increase in gastric ghrelin levels at the stage of non-atrophic gastritis in H pylori positive patients,especially in those infected with cagA(-) strains,can exert a gastroprotective effect. A: To investigate the level of gastric ghrelin in stomach mucosa of dyspeptic patients in relation to Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection, bacterial cytotoxicity, topography and gender. METHODS: The study comprised 40 premenopausal women (19 H pylori positive) and 48 men (17 H pylori positive) with functional dyspepsia. All gastric biopsy samples revealed normal mucosa or non-atrophic gastritis. Gastric ghrelin concentration was determined by Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. CagA and vacA strains of bacterial DNA were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: In general, infection with H pylori causedan increase in gastric ghrelin level regardless of gender and stomach topography .Significantly more hormone was present in both, noninfected and H pylori positive female samples, as compared to males. Distribution of bacterial strains showed cagA (+) vacA s1m1 and cagA (-) vacA s2m2 genotypes as the most common infections in the studied population. A tendency to higher ghreli n levels were observed in less cytotoxic (cagA negative) strain-containing specimens from the antrum and corpus of both gender groups (without statistical significance). CONCLUSION: An increase in gastric ghrelin levels at the stage of non-atrophic gastritis in H pylori positive patients, especially in those infected with cagA (-) strains, can exert a gastroprotective effect.