The first intestinal motility patterns in fetal mice are not mediated by neurons or interstitial cells of Cajal

RR Roberts; M Ellis; RM Gwynne; AJ Bergner; MD Lewis; EA Beckett; JC Bornstein; HM Young

Journal article

The first intestinal motility patterns in fetal mice are not mediated by neurons or interstitial cells of Cajal

RR Roberts, M Ellis, RM Gwynne, AJ Bergner, MD Lewis, EA Beckett, JC Bornstein, HM Young

Journal of Physiology | Published : 2010

DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2009.185421

Abstract

In mature animals, neurons and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are essential for organized intestinal motility. We investigated motility patterns, and the roles of neurons and myenteric ICC (ICC-MP), in the duodenum and colon of developing mice in vitro. Spatiotemporal mapping revealed regular contractions that propagated in both directions from embryonic day (E)13.5 in the duodenum and E14.5 in the colon. The propagating contractions, which we termed ripples, were unaffected by tetrodotoxin and were present in the intestine of embryonic Ret null mutant mice, which lack enteric neurons. Neurally mediated motility patterns were first observed in the duodenum at E18.5. To examine the possibl..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Annette Bergner Author

Joel Bornstein Author

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Grants

Awarded by ARC Discovery

Awarded by NHMRC

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was funded by ARC Discovery Grant DP0878755 to H. M. Y. and J. C. B., NHMRC Project Grant 454351 to J. C. B., and NHMRC Project Grant 565319 to E. A. B. We thank Miles Epstein for the Hu antiserum, Hideki Enomoto and Jeff Milbrandt for the Ret<SUP>TGM</SUP> mice, and Aaron Citti for excellent technical assistance.