Wjep. Lammers et al., HIGH-RESOLUTION ELECTRICAL MAPPING IN THE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM - INITIAL RESULTS, Neurogastroenterology and motility, 8(3), 1996, pp. 207-216
High resolution electrical mapping in the gastrointestinal system enta
ils recording from a large number of extracellular electrodes simultan
eously. It allows the collection of signals from 240 individual sires
which are then amplified, filtered, digitized, multiplexed and stored
on tape. After recording, periods of interest can be analysed and the
original sequence of activity reconstructed This technology, originall
y developed to study normal rhythms and abnormal dysrhythmias in the h
eart, has been modified to allow recordings from the gastrointestinal
tract. In this report, initial results are presented describing the or
igin and propagation of the slow wave in the isolated stomach and the
isolated duodenum in the cat. These results show that in both organs i
t not uncommon to have more than one focus active during a single cycl
e. The conduction of slow waves from such a multiple pacemaker environ
ment can become quire complex, and this may play a role in determining
the contractile pattern in these organs.