HIGH-RESOLUTION ELECTRICAL MAPPING IN THE GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEM - INITIAL RESULTS

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.