A migrating electric complex of the canine small intestine

SZURSZEWSKI, JOSEPH I-I. A migrating electric complex of the canine small intestine. Am. J. Physiol. 2 17(6) : 1757-l 763. 1969.-The electric activity of the small bowel was studied in conscious, healthy dogs by the use of chronically implanted platinum electrodes. A caudad-moving band of large-amplitude action potentials (electric complex) starting in the duodenum and traversing the small bowel was identified. When one such complex reached the ileum, another was developing in the duodenum and proximal jejunum. Complexes were found only in fasting dogs, In six, the estimated mean velocity of caudad migration of the complex ranged from 6.2 to 3.5 cm/min in the proximal bowel and 1.9 to 1.2 cm/min in the distal bowel. The duration of the complex at all levels of the bowel ranged from 7.0 to 4.8 min, and its calculated length from 36.5 to 25.0 cm in the proximal bowel to 12.0 to 6,O cm in the distal bowel. It appears that the function of the electric complex is to produce a caudad migrating band of rhythmic segmentation which moves the interdigestive contents down the small bowel and into the large bowel in preparation for the next meal, It is concluded that the motor complex it induces is the interdigestive Cc housekeeper” of the small bowel.