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In vitro motor patterns and electrophysiological changes in patients with colonic diverticular disease

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International Journal of Colorectal Disease Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The underlying mechanism responsible for motility changes in colonic diverticular disease (DD) is still unknown. In the present study, our aim was to investigate the structural and in vitro motor changes in the sigmoid colon of patients with DD.

Methods

Muscle bath, microelectrodes and immunohistochemical techniques were performed with samples obtained from the left and sigmoid colon of patients with DD and compared with those of patients without DD.

Results

The amplitude and area under the curve of the spontaneous rhythmic phasic contractions were greatly reduced in patients with DD whereas their frequency and tone remained unaltered. Electrical field stimulation induced a neurally mediated, enhanced ON-contraction (amplitude) in patients with DD and increased the duration of latency of OFF-contractions. The resting membrane potential of smooth muscle cells was hyperpolarized and the amplitude of the inhibitory junction potential was increased in patients with DD. In contrast, no significant histological differences were observed in patients with DD as smooth muscle (circular and longitudinal layers), interstitial cells of Cajal, glial cells and myenteric neurons densities remained unaltered.

Conclusions

Sigmoid strips from patients with asymptomatic DD showed an altered motor pattern with reduced spontaneous motility and enhanced neurally mediated colonic responses involving both excitatory and inhibitory motor pathways. No major neural and muscular structural elements were detected at this stage of the disease. These findings could be valuable in understanding the pathophysiology of this prevalent digestive disease.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dra. MJ Fantova and Dra. C Admella (Department of Pathology Hospital de Mataró), Dr. J. Martí-Ragué, A Sáenz, M Marti-Gallostra and J. Cases (Clínica Sagrada Familia) and Dr. X Suñol, O Estrada, A Heredia, E García and L A Hidalgo (Hospital de Mataró) for providing human tissue samples, and Mrs. Jane Lewis for revising the manuscript.

Grants

This study was supported by grants from: Salut del Consorci Santari del Maresme, Laboratorios Menarini SA, the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria IF063678-1, INT 10/228), BFU2009-11118, the Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (Ciberehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III and the Agencia de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (2009 SGR 708). Diana Gallego is funded by CIBERehd (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III) and Victor Gil is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) (AP2007-01583).

Conflicts of interest

Prof. P Clavé received lecture fees and travel grants from Menarini Richerche, Diana Gallego received travel grants from Menarini Richerche. Francisco Espin, Jan Mikulka, Ondřej Šmirg, Víctor Gil, Marcos Faundez-Zanuy and Marcel Jiménez reported no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (Ciberehd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Diana Gallego, Marcel Jiménez & Pere Clavé

  2. Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Diana Gallego, Víctor Gil & Marcel Jiménez

  3. Department of Surgery, Hospital de Mataró, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, C/ Cirera s/n, 08304, Mataró, Spain

    Francisco Espín & Pere Clavé

  4. Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology, Brno, Czech Republic

    Jan Mikulka & Ondřej Šmirg

  5. Escola Universitària Politécnica de Mataró, Barcelona, Spain

    Marcos Faundez-Zanuy

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  1. Diana Gallego
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  2. Francisco Espín
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  3. Jan Mikulka
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  6. Marcos Faundez-Zanuy
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  7. Marcel Jiménez
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  8. Pere Clavé
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Correspondence to Pere Clavé.

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Gallego, D., Espín, F., Mikulka, J. et al. In vitro motor patterns and electrophysiological changes in patients with colonic diverticular disease. Int J Colorectal Dis 28, 1413–1422 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-013-1716-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-013-1716-7

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