15 GI tract motility: motility of stomach, small and large intestine Flashcards
What is are the major functions of gastric motility? (3)
- Allows stomach to act as a reservoir for the large volume of food ingested at a single meal (receptive relaxation)
- Breaks food into smaller particles and mixes with gastric secretions
- Empties gastric contents into duodenum at controlled rate
Smooth muscle of the stomach:
• 3 layers?
• Change in thickness?
3 layers:
• Outer= Longitudinal
• Middle= Circular
• Inner= Oblique
Muscle wall thickness increases from proximal to distal
What does contraction in the caudad region do?
Mix food and propel it into the small intestine
List the innervation of the stomach (3)
- Extrinsic nerves
• Parasympathetic
• Sympathetic - Enteric nervous system
• Myenteric plexus
(a) parasympathetic via vagus
(b) sympathetic via coeliac ganglion - Sensory nerve fibres
What are the extrinsic nerves that innervate the stomach?
- Parasympathetic - stimulate gastric smooth muscle motility and secretions
- Sympathetic - inhibit motility and secretions
What is the enteric nervous system that innervates the stomach?
Myenteric plexus:
- Parasympathetic innervation via vagus
- Sympathetic innervation via coeliac ganglion
What are the sensory afferent fibres that innervate the stomach?
- Between sensory receptors and the ENS (pressure, distension, pH, pain)
- Centrally via the vagal and splanchnic nerves
Discuss the receptive relaxation of the stomach and its functions
Orad region has a thin muscular wall:
- Distension of the lower oesophagus induces relaxation of the lower oesophageal sphincter and the road region of stomach
- Reduces pressure and increases volume of the stomach (1.5 L)
What nerve fibres are involved in vagovagal reflex?
Afferent and efferent nerve fibres in the vagus
Discuss the afferent information in vagovagal reflex
Mechanoreceptors associated with chewing, oesophageal and stomach distension relay information to CNS via sensory neurons
Discuss the efferent information in vagovagal reflex
Efferent information from CNS causes oral relaxation:
• Neurotransmitter - VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide): released from postganglionic peptidergic vagal neurons is responsible for orad relaxation
What substance is responsible for orad relaxation?
Neurotransmitter: VIP (vasoactive intestinal peptide)
Describe the muscle layers and type of contractions in the fundus and body of the stomach
- Muscle layers are thin
* Weak contractions - contents settle into layers based on density
Which region of the stomach is responsible for mixing?
- Thick muscular wall of caudad region is responsible for mixing
- Contraction waves begin in the middle of the body, move distally with increasing strength towards the pylorus
Describe the movement patterns in the stomach
- Propulsion - bolus is pushed toward the closed pylorus
- Grinding - antrum churns the trapped material
- Retropulsion - bolus is pushed back into the proximal stomach
What occurs in retropulsion?
Propels the gastric contents back for further mixing in the stomach
What is the slow wave frequency in the stomach?
3 - 5 per minute
Control of slow wave frequency in the stomach?
- Neural hormonal input
- Hormonal input
- Parasympathetic stimulation
- Gastrin
- Motilin
- Sympathetic stimulation
- Secretin
What does not affect slow wave frequency in the stomach but does affect action potential frequency?
- Neural input
* Hormonal input
What increases action potential frequency (and force of contraction) in slow wave frequency in the stomach
- Parasympathetic stimulation
- Gastrin
- Motilin
What decreases action potential frequency in slow wave frequency in the stomach?
- Sympathetic stimulation
* Secretin
What is the activity of the stomach during fasting?
Periodic gastric contractions (MMCs)
• Migrating myoelectric complexes:
– Mediated by motilin: released from endocrine cells in the upper GI tract
– 90 minute intervals
• Clear stomach of residue remaining from previous meal
After a meal, how much solids, liquids and gastric secretions are contained in the stomach?
1.5 L
How long does it take to empty gastric contents?
~ 3 hours
Why is the rate of gastric emptying regulated?
To ensure that gastric H+ is neutralised in the duodenum and there is adequate time for digestion and absorption of nutrients
What type of meal has the quickest gastric emptying time?
- Saline meal (fastest emptying time)
- Acid meal
- Oleate meal
What physical factors affect gastric emptying? (3)
- Liquids empty more rapidly than solids
- Isotonic fluids empty more rapidly than hypo - or (especially) hypertonic fluids
- Solids must be reduced to particles < 1mm^3 or less: retropulsion continues until this is achieved
What chemical factors inhibit gastric emptying?
Presence of fat and H+ ions in the duodenum
Presence of fat inhibits gastric emptying. What is fat mediated by?
Cholecystokinin - secreted when fat reaches the duodenum
Presence of H+ ions inhibits gastric emptying. What is H+ mediated by?
- Reflexes in the enteric nervous system
- H+ receptors in the duodenum detect low pH and relay information to the gastric smooth muscle via interneurons in the myenteric plexus