Ligand & Electrically Induced Activation
Patterns in Myenteric Neuronal Networks
Confocal Calcium Imaging as a Bridge
between Basic & Human Physiology

By Raf Bisschops
May 2005
Leuven University Press
ISBN: 905867455X
134 pages, Illustrated, 6 ¼" x 9 ½"
$89.50 Paper Original

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This is a Ph.D. dissertation. Gastrointestinal motility regulated by hormonal, myogenic and neuronal mechanisms. The neuronal control consists of two elements: on the one hand the extrinsic innervation by para- and ortho-sympathetic nerve fibres and on the other hand intrinsic intrinsic innervation by the enteric nervous system (ENS). The myenteric plexus as part of the ENS, is to a great extent involved in the control of gastrointestinal motility. The guinea-pig myenteric plexus has been the subject of intense research over the last three decades, resulting in a better understanding of gastrointestinal physiology and motility.

The ENS comprises a large diversity of neurons. Current classification schemes of enteric neurons are mainly based on the data obtained from classical electrophysical experiments, immunohistochemistry and retrograde labeling techniques. Electrophysiological recordings give real-time information concerning the electrical activity of one impaled myenteric neuron (S/AH type neurons), but this information is mostly limited to a single neuron. Immunohistochemical staining for different neurotransmitters or different functionally relevant proteins provides information about an activity due to intrinsic technical limitations of fixation techniques.

Neurology
Acta Biomedica Lovaniensia, No. 338

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