[Electromyographic studies of the stomach following selective proximal vagotomy in the awake dog]

Electrical and mechanical activity of the stomach following selective proximal vagotomy (SPV) were studied with 79 single experiments in 10 awake dogs. The influence of several pharmacological agents and feeding was tested: 1. The AP-Index of the gastric electrical activity rises to 1. 2. High frequency, atypical electrical activity resulting in mechanical inactivity increases with the postop. time interval. It reaches 60% of measured time on the 7th postop. day. 3. Normal electrical coupling of corpus and antrum is lost. 4. Pentagastrin increases the frequency of AP-rhythm only in the denervated corpus. 5. Carbachol and insulin have no such effect. 6. Feeding decreases electrical frequency in the innervated antrum. The altered electrical activity explains the known impairment of gastric emptying following SPV. The electrical desynchronization of corpus and antrum and the increased incidence of high frequency potentials in the antrum seems to overcome the high AP-Index.