Spatiotemporal Mapping of Motility in Ex Vivo Preparations of the Intestines.

Multiple approaches have been used to record and evaluate gastrointestinal motility including: recording changes in muscle tension, intraluminal pressure, and membrane potential. All of these approaches depend on measurement of activity at one or multiple locations along the gut simultaneously which are then interpreted to provide a sense of overall motility patterns. Recently, the development of video recording and spatiotemporal mapping (STmap) techniques have made it possible to observe and analyze complex patterns in ex vivo whole segments of colon and intestine. Once recorded and digitized, video records can be converted to STmaps in which the luminal diameter is converted to grayscale or color [called diameter maps (Dmaps)]. STmaps can provide data on motility direction (i.e., stationary, peristaltic, antiperistaltic), velocity, duration, frequency and strength of contractile motility patterns. Advantages of this approach include: analysis of interaction or simultaneous development of different motility patterns in different regions of the same segment, visualization of motility pattern changes over time, and analysis of how activity in one region influences activity in another region. Video recordings can be replayed with different timescales and analysis parameters so that separate STmaps and motility patterns can be analyzed in more detail. This protocol specifically details the effects of intraluminal fluid distension and intraluminal stimuli that affect motility generation. The use of luminal receptor agonists and antagonists provides mechanistic information on how specific patterns are initiated and how one pattern can be converted into another pattern. The technique is limited by the ability to only measure motility that causes changes in luminal diameter, without providing data on intraluminal pressure changes or muscle tension, and by the generation of artifacts based upon experimental setup; although, analysis methods can account for these issues. When compared to previous techniques the video recording and STmap approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of gastrointestinal motility.

The short chain fatty acids, butyrate and propionate, have differential effects on the motility of the guinea pig colon.

BACKGROUND: Colonic microbiota digest resistant starches producing short chain fatty acids (SCFAs). The main SCFAs produced are acetate, propionate, and butyrate. Both excitatory and inhibitory effects of SCFAs on motility have been reported. We hypothesized that the effect of SCFAs on colonic motility varies with chain length and aimed to determine the effects of SCFAs on propagating and non-propagating contractions of guinea pig proximal and distal colon. METHODS: In isolated proximal colonic segments, Krebs solution alone or containing 10-100 mM acetate, propionate, or butyrate was injected into the lumen, motility was videorecorded over 10 min, and spatiotemporal maps created. In distal colon, the lumen was perfused with the same solutions of SCFAs at 0.1 mL/min, the movement of artificial fecal pellets videorecorded, and velocity of propulsion calculated. KEY RESULTS: In proximal colon, butyrate increased the frequency of full-length propagations, decreased short propagations, and had a biphasic effect on non-propagating contractions. Propionate blocked full and short propagations and had a biphasic effect on non-propagating contractions. Acetate decreased short and total propagations. In distal colon, butyrate increased and propionate decreased velocity of propulsion. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES: The data suggest that luminal SCFAs have differing effects on proximal and distal colonic motility depending on chain length. Thus, the net effect of SCFAs on colonic motility would depend on the balance of SCFAs produced by microbial digestion of resistant starches.