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Colonic intraluminal pressure and intestinal transit were examined in diverticular disease, idiopathic constipation, and the irritable colon syndrome. Small bowel transit was normal. Total gastrointestinal transit was prolonged. Colonic transit showed an equal delay in all segments, expedited by bran. In constipation, transit was the more prolonged, but in the irritable colon syndrome, pressure was more affected. Diverticular disease patients showed features resembling each of these two groups. Pressure and transit showed an inverse relationship maintained after bran.

Colonic motor activity and serum gastrin levels were correlated during a basal period and after a meal in 16 subjects. Motor activity preceded the gastrin response. The motility index and the serum gastrin levels rose in parallel, but the motility fell before later showing a second rise. The frequency response showed the earliest change and since it preceded the gastrin rise may be neurogenic. This response was later "extinguished" and replaced by one of waves of increasing amplitude; the sustained nature of this response fitted more closely the gastrin response.