Week 1: GI motility Flashcards
What is the key descriptor of motility in the GIT?
Is controlled
What processes does motility int he GIT influence?
Swallowing
Gastric mechanical digestion
Gastric emptying
Intestinal absorption of nutrients and water
Defecation
What is the serosa surface of the GIT?
The surface facing the blood (opposed to the lumen)
What is the main component of the lamina propria?
Connective tissue
Blood and lymph vessels
What is the main component of the muscularis mucosae?
Smooth muscle cells
What is the main component of the submucosal layer?
Collagen
Elastin
Glands
Blood vessels of the GIT
What provides motility to the GIT?
Two layers of smooth muscle found in the muscularis externa
Inner circular and outer longitudinal muscle
What is the difference between the longitudinal and circular muscle found in the muscularis externa in the GIT?
Longitudinal - outermost layer, thin and contains few nerve fibres
Circular - thick and more densely innervated
What are the two different sheets of innervation in the GIT?
Where are they found?
Sub-mucosal plexus or mesenteric plexus - in the submucoa
The myenteric plexus - between the circular and longitudinal smooth muscle layers in the muscularis externa
What are the features of smooth muscle?
Non-striated : no orderly arranged sarcomeres
Actin and mysoin make up the thin and thick filaments
intermediate filaments such as desmin and dense bodies act as anchor points for contractile filaments and may modulate contractile activity
What is smooth muscle specialised for?
Long term and maintained contraction using limited amounts of ATP
What is the ratio of thin to thick filaments in smooth muscle and how does this compare to skeletal muscle?
Smooth betwee 12:1 to 18;1 thin to thick
in skeletal muscle 2:1 thin to thick ration
What are dense bodies in smooth muscle?
Anchoring sites for actin filaments in smooth muscle
What molecule does skeletal muscle contain in much larger amounts than smooth muscle?
Troponin
What is the basic mechanism of Ca2+ dependent smooth muscle contraction?
- Calcium ion influx into cell increases IC conc.
- Ca2+ binds reversibly to calmodulin forming a calmodulin-calcium complex (CaM)
- This binds to and activates myosin light chain kinase (MLCK)
- This phosphorylates one light chain in each myosin head
- The head can now bind repetitively with actin filament and cause muscle contraction (and ATP consumption)
What happens in smooth muscle when Ca2+ ions decrease leading to relaxation?
The MLCK become inactive
Myosin light chain phosphatase (MLCP) dominates.
Myosin P is dephosphorylated resulting in muscle relaxation
What are the two different methods by which calcium ions can enter the smooth muscle cell cytoplasm?
Pharmacomechanical coupling
Electromechanical coupling
What is electromechanical coupling as a method of calcium transport in smooth muscle cells?
Changes in surface membrane potential (typically membrane depolarisation) results in the opening of voltage gated Ca2+ channels causing a rise in intracellular Ca2+ in the cytoplasm
What is pharamacomechanical coupling as a concept in calcium ion movement in smooth muscle cells?
Channels respond to chemical and intracellular secondary messengers to cause calcium ion influx into the cytoplasm from the SR and by-non-voltage gated channels in the cell membrane
Does NOT depend on cell membrane potential
What is the process allowing calcium ion influx into the smooth muscle cytoplasm by pharmacomechanical coupling?
- Ligands bind to GPCR in cell membrane activating the G protein
- Results in activation of phospholipase C
- Causes an increase in IP3 and DAG
- DAG opens receptor operated Ca2+ ion channels in the cell membrane
- IP3 activates calcium ion influx from the SR
- Reduced SR calcium ion conc, is sensed by STIM1 in SR which then opens Store-operated Ca2+ channel Orai1 in the cell membrane resulting in more ion influx.
Describe the effect of protein Kinase C on smooth muscle contraction
Results in Ca2+ ion dependent smooth muscle cell contraction
Increases the activity of MLCK
Decreases the activity of MLCP
Overall results in a higher proportion of phosphorylated myosin light chains
Increasing muscle contraction
How can the sensitivity of smooth muscle contraction to Ca2+ be modulated?
By kinases and/or second messengers
This can decrease the reliance on calcium ion dependent contraction in favour of independent calcium ion contraction
Why is the latch state hypothesis important to the function of smooth muscle contraction?
Allows high forces of contraction to be maintained for long periods of time without excessive hydrolysis of ATP
This prevent an extremely elevated metabolic demand helping to avoid fatigue
What is the latch state hypothesis of smooth muscle contraction?
When myosin heads already bound to actin are dephosphorylated they enter a latch state
This means they detach slowly from actin, allowing a greater number of cross bridges to be maintained so some cross bridge cycling and ATP hydrolysis can occur
This results in some tention without expending significant ATP
= high tension state by low energy consumption
What is the mechanism behind the latch state hypothesis in smooth muscle?
MLCK phosphorylates myosin to activate it and allow it to engage in the cross bridge cycle (ATP activity)
At any stage in this cycle MLCP can act to dephosphorylate myosin inhibiting further progress in the cross bridge cycle - this results in reduced cross bridge cycling and reduced ATPase activity
If this occurs when myosin is bound to actin tension is maintained = latch state hypothesis.
How does ATP contraction and muscle force compare between smooth and skeletal muscle?
ATP consumption in smooth muscle it 1/1000 to 1/5000 of striated muscle
Smooth muscle develops force 1000 slower than striated muscle
What are slow waves in the GI tract?
Cyclical changes in membrane potential seen in GI smooth muscle cells.
underlie phasic contraction and relaxation
What causes slow waves in the GI tract?
Pacemaker currents originating in the interstitial cells of Cajal network.
What evidence shows that Interstitial cells of cajal (ICC) are the pacemakers of smooth muscle contraction?
Electrodes recorded a peak in slow waves originating in the ICC always preceeding smooth muscle cell depolarisation
Describe the anatomy of the interstitial cells of cajal? ICC
Form a network with each other amongst and between smooth muscle layers
How are ICC, Ca2+ and depolarisation all related?
ICC influence depolarisation of smooth muscle cells which allows Ca2+ entry
Note ICCs do not directly cause Ca2+ entry, rather spike potentials are generated from the smooth waves which can then influence calcium ion entry.
What is the resting membrane potential in smooth muscle?
-56 millivolts
Describe the relationship between slow waves, spikes and action potentials?
- Slow waves are baseline and occur all the time - triggered by pacemaker ICC cells
- Stimulation (from reflexive activation of stretch receptors/ chemoreceptors or parasympathetic) cause depolarisation
- When slow waves occur at a membrane potential more porisitve than -40mv spike potentials appear on the peaks,
- The frequency of spikes is proportional to the positivity of the slow wave potential
- Spike wave triggers smooth muscle contraction.
What factors can contribute to the depolarisation of the membrane potential?
( slow waves)
What does this lead to?
Strethcing of muscle
Acetylcholine (parasympathetic)
Gastroinstetinal hormones - gastrin and motilin
Increased force of contraction and increased frequency of action potentials
What factors contribute to the hyperpolarisation of the membrane potential?
(slow waves)
Sympathetic nerve stimulation
Typically noradrenaline and adrenaline
GIT hormone GIP (gastrin inhibitory polypetide) a GIT hormone
Decreases the force of contraction and the frequency of action potentials.
How can slow waves be modulated?
Neural and hormonal input
This does not influence the frequency of slow waves, it influences the membrane potential
Hence the frequency of action potentials and the force of contraction.
What is a tonic contraction?
How does it occur in the GIT?
Is a weak but a long time maintained isometric contraction
Occurs in smooth muscle cells as subthreshold slow waves can trigger a weak contraction (WITHOUT the occurence of an action potential)
What is a phasic contraction and how can it occur in smooth muscle cells?
Phasic contraction - a fast short lived isometric contraction
Occurs when action potential/spike wave is triggered.
How does the affect of repetitive action potential vary between skeletal and smooth muscle?
Skeletal - each action potential is followed by a seperate contraction or twitch
smooth - action potentials and twithches summate into sustained contraction
What controls the rate of passage thorugh the GIT?
Contraction of sphincters
Changing the rate of peristalsis
Why is it important to be able to control the rate of passage through the GIT?
Enzymatic reactions take time
Needs to be able to slow the passage of food to ensure there is plenty of time for this reaction to occur.
This enables time for nutrients to be absorbed across the interstinal wall.
What are the differenct reflexes that control the passage of food through the GIT?
Gastroileal reflex
Gastrocoloic?duodenocolic reflexes
Enterogastric reflex
intestinointestinal reflex
Colonioleal reflex
What is the gastroilial relfex?
Stomach activity promotes the opening of the ileocaecal sphincter
What is the gastrocolic/duodenocolic reflexes?
Food enterting the stomach or duodenum promotes motility of the colon