ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES ON THE INTESTINAL INTRINSIC REFLEX

Abstract

Two kinds of the intestinal intrinsic reflexes were investigated by recording the electrical activities of the denervated small intestine in the dog anesthetized with morphine and urethan. The electrical activities were recorded in most cases by means of the micro-electrode inserted into the muscular coats and occasionally by an agar-agar-AgCl electrode. When the mucosa is stimulated mechanically or chemically, the rate of the positive slow potentials and the number of the spike potentials superimposed on them increase above the stimulated spot, while below the stimulated spot the former increases slightly in rate, being accompanied by a diminution in amplitude, and the latter diminishes in number or disappears completely. When the intestinal muscle is stimulated mechanically or chemically, both above and below the stimulated spot all the spike potentials disappear and the slow potentials decrease in amplitude, being accompanied by increase in rate.