The Controls of Gastrointestinal Movements: Some Old and New Views

Abstract

MOTOR mechanisms in the gastrointestinal tract are poorly understood. Their study is difficult because nerve and muscle cells are so minute, the integration of the mechanisms is so complex, the systems vary so much among organs and species, and the gut is so inaccessible. Even though the subject has been studied since the beginnings of modern physiology, it is only a little clearer now than it was then. In perhaps no other area has gastrointestinal physiology assisted less at the bedside. Such frustrating and common problems as post-gastrectomy diarrhea and the functional-bowel syndrome may prove to be primarily organic motor . . .