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Upper Urinary Tract Obstruction
Published in Karl H. Pang, Nadir I. Osman, James W.F. Catto, Christopher R. Chapple, Basic Urological Sciences, 2021
Process begins within the ‘pacemaker cells’.Located within the renal pelvis, mostly in the calyceal−pelvic junction.Calcium-dependant pacemaker cells consist of:Atypical smooth muscle cells: low depolarisation potential compared with typical smooth muscle cells and are more excitable, which initiates and promotes peristalsis.Interstitial cells of Cajal.
Physiological and Pathophysiological Roles of VIP, Somatostatin, Opioids, Galanin, GRP, and Secretin
Published in Edwin E. Daniel, Neuropeptide Function in the Gastrointestinal Tract, 2019
Jan D. Huizinga, Julio Pintin-Quezada
In summary, evidence is increasing in support of an important role for VIP in neurally mediated inhibitions of intestinal smooth muscle. It seems likely that VIP is not the only inhibitory transmitter and may not be the neurotransmitter mediating IJPs in all tissues. In fact, definite proof of the latter awaits further electrophysiological and biochemical studies. Recent evidence points to the interesting possibility that VIP action on smooth muscle is mediated by interstitial cells of Cajal.
Tropical Colorectal Surgery
Published in Peter Sagar, Andrew G. Hill, Charles H. Knowles, Stefan Post, Willem A. Bemelman, Patricia L. Roberts, Susan Galandiuk, John R.T. Monson, Michael R.B. Keighley, Norman S. Williams, Keighley & Williams’ Surgery of the Anus, Rectum and Colon, 2019
Meheshinder Singh, Kemal I. Deen
In its chronic stage, there is intramural denervation of the gut due to progressive destruction of nerve and muscle cells. Denervation occurs in both the submucosal (Meissner) and myenteric (Auerbach) plexuses of the intestine. There is also a reduction in the number of interstitial cells of Cajal that play an important role in the motility of the digestive track. Destruction of cardiac muscle cells can result in congestive cardiac failure, which is frequently associated with cardiac conduction abnormalities as well.150
Therapeutic effects of Bombax ceiba flower aqueous extracts against loperamide-induced constipation in mice
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2023
Liuping Wang, Shiyuan Xie, Xuan Jiang, Caini Xu, Youqiong Wang, Jianfang Feng, Bin Yang
Interstitial cells of Cajal, as the gastrointestinal pacemaker cells (Yin et al. 2018), may play an important role in regulating neurotransmitters (Lees-Green et al. 2011), producing the smooth muscle electrical slow wave and conducting slow-wave potential, thereby coordinating intestinal motility (Xu et al. 2013). Moreover, the slow wave appears to be generated by submucosal ICC in the colon, which determines smooth muscle contractile activity (Li et al. 2015). The significant decrease of ICC may produce abnormal slow wave (Li et al. 2015), which can inhibit smooth muscle contractile activity and disrupt normal colonic motility, resulting in constipation (Su et al. 2019). As tyrosine kinase receptors of ICC, C-kit is critical in the maintenance of the ICC network and loss of C-kit expression may suggest the disruption of the ICC network in patients with constipation (Li et al. 2015). C-kit can be reliably identified by IHC techniques (Yin et al. 2018), which indirectly reflects the quantity and density of ICC (Liu et al. 2020). The results of our study indicated that BCE could increase the expression of c-kit protein, which protect the expression of ICC. But its mechanism might need further research in the future.
Prokinetic effects of Citrus reticulata and Citrus aurantium extract with/without Bupleurum chinense using multistress-induced delayed gastric emptying models
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2023
Yanrong Gong, Xiaoxia Liang, Yanting Dai, Xiang Huang, Qiaozhen Su, Yan Ma, Fenglian Chen, Shuling Wang
The rhythmic peristalsis of gastrointestinal muscle is controlled by specialized gastrointestinal pacemaker cells called interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) and mediated by some neurotransmitters and hormones (Huizinga 1999). Substance P (SP) is a neuropeptide and as a modulator it plays a pivotal role in gastrointestinal functioning (El-Salhy and Spångéus 1998; Graefe and Mohiuddin 2022). Motilin (MTL) is a gastrointestinal hormone and it is cyclically released during the fasted state by Mo cells in the upper small intestine. In mammals, MTL stimulates appetite and gastrointestinal motility contributing to the movement of undigested food in these regions into the large intestine (Al-Missri and Jialal 2021). In case of disturbed gastrointestinal motility, the release of SP and MTL stimulates c-kit proto-oncogene protein (c-kit) expression in mesenchymal precursor cells and promotes their proliferation and differentiation into ICC. Serotonin (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter and a key molecule linking the nervous system with gastrointestinal function. Peripheral 5-HT activates 5-HT receptor (5-HT4R) in the gastrointestinal tract, thereby initiating the contractility of smooth muscles. As a consequence, ICC pacemaker activity may be generated by the influx of Ca2+ in smooth muscle cells due to gastrointestinal contractility (Huizinga et al. 1995).
Gut microbiota-motility interregulation: insights from in vivo, ex vivo and in silico studies
Published in Gut Microbes, 2022
Barbora Waclawiková, Agnese Codutti, Karen Alim, Sahar El Aidy
Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) are the intestinal pacemaker cells responsible for the generation of electrical oscillatory activity (also known as the “slow waves”). Electrical oscillatory activity is the dominant omnipresent pacemaker activity of the intestine, that is electrically coupled to smooth muscle cells, providing it with cyclic changes in excitability.60 ICCs constitute the basis for peristalsis, which is then stimulated by migrating motor complexes (MMCs; intestinal motility pattern of the interdigestive state) or segmentation motility patterns (see section Contractility and flows below),2,60–62 and were first characterized by Cajal in 1893.63 The functional development of ICC networks depends on signaling via the Kit receptor pathway.64 In fact, mice with loss-of-function in c-Kit signaling failed to generate pacemaker activity64 indicating that ICCs serve as pacemakers.