Origin and spread of slow waves in canine gastric antral circular muscle

Electrical slow waves recorded from circular muscle cells near the myenteric and submucosal plexuses were found to be significantly different. By measuring the latencies between the arrival of evoked events at two recording sites, slow wave conduction velocities were determined in the three dimensions of circular muscle. Slow waves propagated more rapidly in the axis parallel to the circular fibers than in the axes perpendicular to the circular fibers. The rates of slow wave propagation were also determined in axes parallel and perpendicular to fibers in myenteric and submucosal circular muscles. Slow waves conducted more slowly in the circular muscle near the submucosa than in circular muscle near the myenteric plexus. From conduction velocity measurements, a technique was developed to determine the pacemaker site of spontaneous slow waves in a muscle strip. These data demonstrate that slow waves originate from multiple discrete foci; in muscle strips cut along the long axis of the stomach, these foci are found predominantly in the orad region of the muscle strip; and slow waves originate in the outer myenteric half of the muscle.