Year 2016 / Volume 108 / Number 11
Review
Mechanisms responsible for neuromuscular relaxation in the gastrointestinal tract

721-731

DOI: 10.17235/reed.2016.4058/2015

Diana Gallego, Noemí Mañé, Víctor Gil, Míriam Martínez-Cutillas, Marcel Jiménez,

Abstract
The enteric nervous system (ENS) is responsible for the genesis of motor patterns ensuring an appropriate intestinal transit. Enteric neurons are classified into afferent, interneuron, and motoneuron types, with the latter two being further categorized as excitatory or inhibitory, which cause smooth muscle contraction or inhibition, respectively. Muscle relaxation mechanisms are key for the understanding of physiological processes such as sphincter relaxation, gastric accommodation, or descending peristaltic reflex. Nitric oxide (NO) and ATP or a related purine represent the primary inhibitory neurotransmitters. Nitrergic neurons synthesize NO through nNOS enzyme activity. NO diffuses across the cell membrane to bind its receptor, namely, guanylyl cyclase, and then activates a number of intracellular mechanisms that ultimately result in muscle relaxation. ATP acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter together with NO, and the purinergic P2Y1 membrane receptor has been identified as a key item in order to understand how ATP may relax intestinal smooth muscle. Although, probably, no clinician doubts the significance of NO in the pathophysiology of digestive motility, the relevance of purinergic neurotransmission is apparently much lower, as ATP has not been associated with any specific motor dysfunction yet. The goal of this review is to discuss the function of both relaxation mechanisms in order to establish the physiological grounds of potential motor dysfunctions arising from impaired intestinal relaxation.
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Gallego D, Mañé N, Gil V, Martínez-Cutillas M, Jiménez M. Mechanisms responsible for neuromuscular relaxation in the gastrointestinal tract. 4058/2015


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Publication history

Received: 19/10/2015

Accepted: 09/01/2016

Online First: 03/03/2016

Published: 02/11/2016

Article revision time: 81 days

Article Online First time: 136 days

Article editing time: 380 days


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