Continuous electrical and mechanical activity recording in the gut of the conscious rat

The chronically-prepared gut is a very useful model for the determination of the motor profile changes due to drugs in both fed and unfed animals. Rats fitted with strain gauge transducers and implanted electrodes showed a good relationship between motility indices of spiking activity and mechanical activity. In both fed and fasted rats records of contractions of the antrum gave a more accurate representation, as tonic changes in antral activity can be seen. On the other hand, the electrical spiking activity of the small intestine allows more accurate recording of pharmacological responses than recording of the mechanogram. These variations as well as the changes in the duration of quiescence may be of importance in the quantitative assessment of the gastrointestinal motor profile.