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Updated: Sep 30, 2026

Fabrication and Implantation of Miniature Dual-element Strain Gages for Measuring In Vivo Gastrointestinal Contractions in Rodents.
Published on: September 18, 2014
Involvement of serotonin and nitric oxide in endotoxin-induced gastric motility changes in conscious rats
Toshio Watanabe1, Takeshi Tomomasa, Hiroaki Kaneko
1Department of Pediatrics, Gunma University School of Medicine, Maebashi, Japan.
Abstract:
Severe bacterial infection causes gastrointestinal dysmotility by an unknown mechanism. We investigated the possible involvement of serotonin (5-HT) and nitric oxide (NO) in endotoxin-induced motility disturbance, using an in vivo rat model. Six days prior to the experiment, a force transducer was sutured to the gastric antrum of rats. Lipopolysaccharide induced strong repetitive contractions in the gastric antrum within 2 to 3 min in all rats tested. After 15 min of hypermotility, motility decreased and remained low for more than 60 min. The initial increase in motility was suppressed by atropine, FK1052, or SB204070, whereas it was not affected by granisetron. The subsequent decrease was inhibited by L-NAME and S-methylisothiourea sulfate. These results indicate that in conscious rats, lipopolysaccharide induces a transient increase in gastric motility followed by suppression. The increase might be mediated by 5-HT4 receptors, and the decrease by inducible NOS.
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