Aspects of gastrointestinal motility in relation to the development of digestive function in neonates

Gastrointestinal motility is responsible for mixing and transport of digest a and elimination of undigested residues. The basis for the motility is the electrical activity of the gastrointestinal smooth muscle, which has a rec urring pattern. In the small intestine of mature animals, this pattern is a ssociated with periodic fluctuations of mesenteric blood flow, and gastric, pancreatic and biliary secretion, and with intestinal absorption. In gener al, feeding disrupts the cyclic pattern in the stomach and small intestine, replacing it with a continuous post-feeding pattern, and the duration of t he post-feeding pattern is dependent on animal species, composition of the diet and feeding regime. The perinatal and weaning periods manifest drastic changes in digestive function and, thus, in gastrointestinal motility. Due to difficulties in performing studies in perinatal and neonatal animals, o nly few data on the development of gastrointestinal motility, and its synch ronisation with other digestive functions, are available. Whereas some stud ies in the literature indicate that the development of gastrointestinal mot ility follows the maturation of the regulatory mechanisms, recent data also suggest that changes in gastrointestinal motility around birth and weaning reflect changes in nutrient supply. This paper deals with some aspects of gastrointestinal motility, primarily in the gastric antrum and small intest ine, of neonatal animals. Certainly, changes in gastrointestinal motility i n early life could be of paramount importance for proper digestive function and this research area requires further attention. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All lights reserved.