Journal of gastrointestinal surgery : official journal of the Society for Surgery of the Alimentary Tract
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J. Gastrointest. Surg. · Jul 2001
Selective role of vagal and nonvagal innervation in initiation and coordination of gastric and small bowel patterns of interdigestive and postprandial motility.
Our previous studies suggested that extrinsic innervation modulates upper gut motility but is not requisite for cyclic interdigestive and postprandial motility of the stomach. However, the specific role of vagal and nonvagal extrinsic innervation in the initiation, coordination, and pattern of gastric motility in dogs after denervation of the entire upper gastrointestinal tract remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the role of vagal and nonvagal extrinsic innervation in control of gastric motility patterns. ⋯ However, although a cyclic phase III activity persisted in the stomach after vagotomy, the number of contractions and the motility index during phase III were decreased, and the duration between groupings of contractions was increased. No differences were noted in the duration of postprandial inhibition after feeding meals before and after vagotomy. These observations support our hypothesis that the vagal nerves are not necessary for the initiation or temporal coordination of global fasting or postprandial gastroduodenal motility patterns but are involved in modulating the pattern of contractions during gastric phase III.