Smooth Muscle Mechanosensitivity Generates and Maintains Pressure Gradients Across the Intestine.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The gut, the ureter, or the Fallopian tube all transport biological fluids by generating trains of propagating smooth muscle constrictions collectively known as peristalsis. These tubes connect body compartments at different pressures. We extend here Poiseuille's experiments on liquid flow in inert tubes to an active, mechanosensitive tube: the intestine.

Methods

We use as a miniature myogenic peristaltic pump model, the fetal chicken gut, and measured the flow and contractile wave propagation as a function of the initially applied pressures and pressure gradients. We dissect the molecular pathways of smooth muscle mechanosensitivity by measuring the force generated by gut rings in different pharmacological conditions.

Results

We demonstrate that smooth mus

SUBMITTER: Amedzrovi Agbesi RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12850001 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature