Authors: Jacobson K, McHugh K, Collins SM.

Institution: Department of Medicine, McMaster University Medical Center, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Background: Studies in inflammatory bowel disease have shown extensive structural abnormalities in the enteric nervous system of inflamed and noninflamed gut; however, functional correlates are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of colitis on myenteric nerve function at inflamed and noninflamed sites in rat intestine.

Methods: Tritiated noradrenaline release was measured from longitudinal muscle myenteric plexus preparations from the distal and transverse colon and terminal ileum of rats with colitis induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid or Trichinella spiralis larvae.

Conclusions: Experimental distal colitis alters myenteric nerve function in inflamed distal colon and noninflamed gut regions. These changes are independent of the manner in which colitis is induced and provide a basis for the extensive disruption of physiological function observed in inflammatory bowel disease.

Study link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7657099&query_hl=21&itool=pubmed_docsum

• Effect of Transient Chemically Induced Colitis on the Visceromotor Response to Mechanical Colorectal Distension
• Experimental Colitis Alters Myenteric Nerve Function at Inflamed and Noninflamed Sites in the Rat
• Damage to the Enteric Nervous System in Experimental Colitis
• Previous Inflammation Alters the Response of the Rat Colon to Stress