There is increased prevalence of abdominal pain and diarrhea and decreased gastric sensation with increased body mass index (BMI). Our hypothesis is that increased BMI is associated with increased colonic motility and sensation. The study aim was to assess effect of BMI on colonic sensory and motor functions and transit. We used a database of colonic tone, compliance, and perception of distensi...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques highlight cerebral vascular responses which are coupled to changes in neural activation. However, two major difficulties arise when employing these techniques in animal studies. First is the disturbance of cerebral blood flow due to anaesthesia and second is the difficulty of precise reproducible quantitative measurements. These difficulti...

Nitric oxide has been shown to be an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian colon, although its role in colonic transit remains unclear. We investigated the effect of the nitric oxide biosynthesis inhibitor NG -nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME) on colonic transit in conscious rats. Colonic transit was determined by calculating the geometric center of the distribution of radiochromium...

BACKGROUND Feeding related peptides have been shown to be additionally involved in the central autonomic control of gastrointestinal functions. Recent studies have shown that ghrelin, a stomach-derived orexigenic peptide, is involved in the autonomic regulation of GI function besides feeding behavior. Pharmacological evidence indicates that ghrelin effects on food intake are mediated by neurope...

AIMS/BACKGROUND Nuclear transit studies (NTS) allow us to follow transit through the stomach and the small and large intestines. We identified children with chronic constipation with rapid proximal colonic transit and characterized their clinical features. METHODS We reviewed NTS from 1998 to 2009 to identify patients with chronic constipation and rapid proximal colonic transit, defined as gr...

Viramontes, Blanca E., Allison Malcolm, Michael Camilleri, Lawrence A. Szarka, Sanna McKinzie, Duane D. Burton, and Alan R. Zinsmeister. Effects of an a2adrenergic agonist on gastrointestinal transit, colonic motility, and sensation in humans. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 281: G1468–G1476, 2001.—To characterize a2-adrenergic control of motor and sensory functions of gastrointestinal ...

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...

BACKGROUND Watery stools are equated with rapid and hard stools with slow intestinal transit; however, the relation between stool form and transit through specific regions of the gut is not clear cut. In addition, more information is needed on interindividual variability of these measurements. AIM To examine the relations between stool form and gastric emptying, small bowel and colonic transi...

OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to assess the usefulness of functional magnetic stimulation in controlling neurogenic bowel dysfunction in spinal cord injured patients with supraconal and conal/caudal lesions, and to investigate the efficacy of this regimen with a 3-month follow-up. DESIGN A longitudinal, prospective before-after trial. SUBJECTS A total of 22 patients with chronic spi...