1. Analysis of pacemaker activity in the human stomach
- Author
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Poong-Lyul Rhee, Hee Jung Son, Sung Kim, Sung Jin Hwang, Sang Don Koh, Jae J. Kim, Ji Yeon Lee, Sean M. Ward, Jong Chul Rhee, and Kenton M. Sanders
- Subjects
Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Physiology ,Motility ,Human physiology ,Anatomy ,Biology ,Electrophysiology ,Human stomach ,Wave frequency ,Extracellular ,medicine ,Animal studies ,Intracellular microelectrodes - Abstract
Non-technical summary What is known about gastric electrophysiology and used in motility clinics throughout the world is mostly deduced from animal studies and extracellular recordings from human patients. Extracellular recording from gastrointestinal muscles, however, is prone to extensive motion artifact, and it is not clear that animal models can be translated directly to human physiology. Therefore, we have performed a detailed analysis of electrical activity from carefully mapped specimens of gastric muscle removed from humans during surgery for gastric cancers. Our data show several important differences in electrical activity recorded with intracellular microelectrodes and accepted gastric electrophysiological dogma. We observed ongoing electrical slow wave activity in the gastric fundus; we also found no evidence for a slow wave frequency gradient. Muscles from all regions through the thickness of the muscularis demonstrated intrinsic pacemaker activity, and this corresponded with the widespread distribution of pacemaker cells.
- Published
- 2011