Specific Effects of Different Food Components on Intestinal Motility. Electromyographic Study in Dogs

Interdigestive intestinal myoelectric activity is characterized by repetitive aborally migrating complexes which are inhibited by feeding. The aim of the present work was to study the effects of different food components on the duration of inhibition of the myoelectric complex and on the number of spike potentials during this period. 4 dogs were prepared for chronic recordings with electrodes implanted on the jejunum and an alimentary cannula placed into the duodenum. Glucose, peptides and lipids were given into the cannula at doses of 7.5 and 15 kcal/kg. The results indicated that the inhibition of the myoelectric complex was longer for lipids than for glucose and even longer than for peptides. When the caloric load was increased, the duration of inhibition was also increased. As concerns the spike potentials, their number was increased after administration of glucose and of peptides, whereas it was decreased after lipids. Lastly, the increase of the caloric load did not change the number of spike potentials significantly. These results indicated that the duration of inhibition of the myoelectric complex depended on both the nature and the caloric load of the food components, whereas the number of spike potentials was determined only by the composition of food.