During the early stages of diabetes, gastric emptying is often accelerated, rather than delayed. The mechanism of accelerated gastric emptying in diabetes has not been fully studied. A recent study showed that plasma ghrelin levels were elevated in diabetes. As postprandial antro-pyloric coordination plays an important role in mediating solid gastric emptying, we hypothesize that the elevated plasma ghrelin levels increase postprandial antro-pyloric coordination to accelerate emptying in the early stages of diabetes. To test this hypothesis, rats were made diabetic by streptozotocin (STZ; 50 mg/kg)-injection and two weeks later pre-and post-prandial plasma ghrelin levels, antro-pyloric coordination and solid gastric emptying were determined. In control rats, plasma ghrelin levels were immediately reduced after feeding. In contrast, plasma ghrelin levels remained within the fasted levels in STZ rats after feeding. In STZ rats, gastric emptying was significantly accelerated (77.4 ± 3.2%, n=6), compared to that of control rats (58.8 ± 2.5%, n=6, p<0.05). Treatments with anti-ghrelin antibodies attenuated accelerated gastric emptying in STZ rats (50.1 ± 3.5 %, n=6, p<0.05), while having little effect in vehicle-control rats. The incidence of postprandial antro-pyloric coordination was significantly increased in STZ rats, compared to that of control rats (p<0.05). Treatments with anti-ghrelin antibodies suppressed this enhanced antro-pyloric coordination in STZ rats. Our study suggests that elevated endogenous ghrelin enhances antro-pyloric coordination, which accelerates gastric emptying in the early stages of diabetes.