Submitted on May 2, 2007
Accepted on November 9, 2007
Increase in stretch-induced rhythmic motor activity in the diabetic rat colon is associated with loss of ICC-SMP
Abigail S Forrest1, Jan D. Huizinga2, Xuan-Yu Wang2, Louis W.C. Liu2, and Mike E Parsons1*
1 Biosciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
2 Intestinal Disease Research Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.e.parsons{at}herts.ac.uk.
Diabetes affects many aspects of gastrointestinal motility, in part due to changes in interstitial cells of Cajal. The effect of diabetes on the colon however, is not well characterized and the aim of the present study was to investigate possible relationships between altered colonic motility as a consequence of streptozotocin induced diabetes and injury to ICC. Physiological, immuno-histochemical and ultrastructural techniques were employed. The motor pattern of the rat colon was dominated by rhythmic high-amplitude low-frequency contractions that were primarily myogenic in origin. These rhythmic contractions were induced by stretch associated with increased tension; the amplitude of the superimposed rhythmic contractions increased with increasing applied tension. In diabetic rats, the stretch-induced rhythmic contractile activity remained robust and of similar frequency but was significantly higher in amplitude compared to control rats. At 700 mg applied tension, the force of contraction in circular colonic muscle strips of the diabetic rats was 370% of control values. This robust presence of low frequency contractions is consistent with the unaffected pacemaker ICC-AP and the increased amplitude correlates with loss of and injury to ICC of the submuscular plexus (ICC-SMP) and intramuscular ICC (ICC-IM). Loss of inhibitory nitrergic nerves does not appear to be a factor based on unaltered nNOS immunoreactivity.
