BACKGROUND & AIMS Gastrointestinal motility is regulated by enteric neural circuitry that includes enteric neurons and glia. Enteric glia monitor synaptic activity and exhibit responses to neurotransmitters that are encoded by intracellular calcium (Ca2+) signaling. What role evoked glial responses play in the neural regulation of gut motility is unknown. We tested how evoking Ca2+ signaling in...

Acupuncture is useful for functional bowel diseases, such as constipation and diarrhea. However, the mechanisms of beneficial effects of acupuncture on colonic function have scarcely ever been investigated. We tested the hypothesis that electroacupuncture (EA) at ST-36 stimulates colonic motility and transit via a parasympathetic pathway in conscious rats. Hook-shaped needles were inserted at b...

In this thesis, two pharmacokinetic models are evaluated with respect to their capacity to quantify gastric emptying and small intestinal transit in dogs. The experiments are based on the double marker technique, which uses two drug substances (paracetamol and sulfasalazine) that are absorbed in the duodenum and the colon, respectively. A standard model is compared to a more sophisticated trans...

Orphanin FQ (OFQ), also known as nociceptin, is a recently isolated endogenous peptide with a structure similar to the endogenous opioid peptides. The present study examines the actions of centrally administered OFQ on in vivo murine gastrointestinal and colonic transit as well as the actions of OFQ on the isolated colon. Intracerebroventricular injections of OFQ dose dependently inhibited colo...

Recent studies have suggested that a high incidence of 0.05 Hz (3 c/m) slow wave electrical activity is present within the rectosigmoid of patients with the irritable colon syndrome during symptomatic phases. However, it is known that this is a chronic relapsing disorder and in this study we have compared myoelectrical recordings, using an on-line frequency analyser, during periods of severe sy...

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to improve impaired gastric motility and slow waves in both humans and animals. However, its effects on colonic motility have rarely been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and underlying mechanisms of EA on impaired colonic motility induced by rectal distension (RD)in dogs. Colon contractions and transit were measured in va...

introduction: hydronephrosis is one of the major causes of referring infants for nuclear medicine investigation. renal dynamic study is the most reliable investigation for such children. however direct evaluation of renogram leads to generation of parameters that have no physiological interpretation. the configuration of renogram is very much dependent upon the rate at which radiopharmaceutical...

background functional constipation (fc) and constipation-predominant irritable bowl syndrome (cibs)are two main subtypes of constipation that can be distinguished by the rome ii criteria. measuring colonic transit time (ctt) is an easy and cost effective way to evaluate constipation. this study was conducted to compare the ctt in patients with fc and cibs. materials and methods those patients w...

Previous observations from our laboratory have suggested that colonic filling from the ileum is characterised by a series of bolus movements. The present experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that bolus transit of ileal contents into the colon would not distinguish between solids and liquids. After a manometric infusion assembly was positioned by mouth into the ileum of 13 healthy vo...