Canine ileal motor activity after a model of jejunoileal autotransplantation

To determine mechanisms by which extrinsic innervation to the jejunoileum controls ileal motility.

Small bowel transplantation is complicated by diarrhea and delayed gastric emptying, possibly secondary to altered motility. Ileal motility after small bowel transplantation is poorly characterized.

Motor activity was recorded from four dogs during fasting and after feeding small (64 Kcal) or large (256 Kcal) meals. Short-chain fatty acids known to induce unique ileal motor patterns were administered into the distal ileum during fasting. Dogs were studied before and after jejunoileal denervation simulating autotransplantation.

After jejunoileal denervation, the ileal migrating motor complex (MMC) persisted but was no longer temporally coordinated with duodenal MMCs. Spontaneous giant migrating contractions occurred more frequently after denervation and more commonly originated proximally in the jejunum, but the velocity of migration did not differ. In contrast, the incidence and characteristics of spontaneous discrete clustered contractions (DCCs) did not differ. Short-chain fatty acids reproducibly initiated giant migrating contractions and discrete clustered contractions in the distal ileum without differences before and after denervation. Large but not small meals inhibited the ileal MMC after denervation.

Extrinsic innervation and/or intrinsic neural continuity with the duodenum and/or colon control temporal coordination of ileal motility with the duodenum and modulate postprandial inhibition of fasting motility and presence of giant migrating contractions. These changes in motility patterns may prove important in mediating enteric dysfunction after small bowel transplantation.