”Got Guts” The Micro Version: Gastric Neuromuscular Transmission

In this episode of the Got Guts podcast series Madeleine R. Di Natale of the University of Melbourne discusses the recently published manuscript titled "Characterization of neuromuscular transmission and projections of muscle motor neurons in the rat stomach."  This study provides a detailed mapping of nerve transmission to the circular muscle of the different anatomical regions of rat stomach. It shows that excitatory and inhibitory influences extend around the gastric circumference and that there is a summation of neural influence that allows for finely graded control of muscle tension and length. Nerve-mediated electrical events are qualitatively and quantitatively different between regions, for example, excitatory neurons have direct effects on fundus but not antral muscle.

 

Article Citation:

Characterization of neuromuscular transmission and projections of muscle motor neurons in the rat stomach

Madeleine R. Di Natale, Billie Hunne, Martin J. Stebbing, Xiaokai Wang, Zhongming Liu, and John B. Furness

American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology 2024 326:1, G78-G93