Disorders of interstitial cells of Cajal

Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) have, in the past 2 decades, been recognised as important elements in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility. Specifically, they have been shown to be critical for the generation and propagation of electrical slow waves that regulate the phasic contractile activity of gastrointestinal smooth muscle, and for mediating neurotransmission from enteric motor neurons to smooth muscle cells. These different functional roles are carried out by different phenotypic classes of ICC that have discrete distributions within the tunica muscularis. Identifying the functional roles of ICC within the gut has been facilitated by studying mutant mice deficient in ICC, either as a consequence of loss of the tyrosine kinase receptor, Kit, or its ligand, stem cell factor, both of which are necessary for normal ICC development. In humans, under certain pathophysiological conditions, loss or defects in ICC networks appear to play a role in the generation of certain motility disorders. Alterations in ICC distribution have been reported in conditions such as achalasia, chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction, Hirschsprung disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, and slow transit constipation. Molecular and genetic techniques are helping researchers to determine whether defects in ICC networks are the cause of motility disorders, or whether the disrupted ICC networks are a consequence of gut dysfunction.