Changes of gastrointestinal motility evoked by spinal cord cooling and heating

Abstract

In dogs anaesthetized with sodium pentobarbital, gastric and duodenal motility were recorded with the balloon method, while the spinal cord was thermally stimulated during periods of 3–4 min duration. Arterial blood pressure, respiratory rate, and the temperatures of the rectum, spinal peridural space and foot pads were recorded simultaneously. Spinal cord cooling resulted in an increase in amplitudes and tonic level of the contraction waves, both in the stomach and in the duodenum, while spinal cord heating decreased amplitudes and tonic level. The changes of gastrointestinal motility evoked by spinal cord thermal stimulation are supposed to be mediated by the autonomic nervous system with an at least significant contribution of the sympathetic innervation of the alimentary canal. These findings suggest that changes of gastrointestinal motility induced by stimulation of specific thermoreceptive substrates might contribute to the close relationship between temperature regulation and food intake.