Neural control of jejunal and ileal motility and transmural potential difference in the ferret

The aim of the present study was to examine the vagal control of motor activity and transmural potential difference in the anaesthetized ferret jejunum and ileum in vivo. The data suggest that in the jejunum fluctuations in transmural potential difference occur secondary to spontaneous bursts of contractions and both are controlled by activity in the vagus nerve. However, in the ileum, spontaneous contractile activity and transmural potential difference are not under the tonic influence of the vagus nerve, although transmural potential difference may be under tonic sympathetic control. Furthermore, it appears that vagally induced motor activity and transmural potential difference responses are independent phenomena. Finally the changes in transmural potential difference and the long latency motor responses to vagal nerve stimulation in the small intestine of the ferret are mediated at least in part by noncholinergic transmitters.