Biomechanics of the Small Intestinal Contractions

Abstract

The small intestine is a part of the gastrointestinal segment comprising of the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum. They help to process the gastric contents for further digestion, which involves mixing with duodeno-biliary-pancreatic (DBP) secretions to facilitate the chemical digestion, and homogenization of the luminal contents through contractions of the circular and longitudinal smooth muscle fibers of the intestine. The contractions of these smooth muscle fibers develops the mechanical forces at the mucosal wall, which as a consequence, transfers its momentum to the underlying fluid to develop the fluid flows, suggesting relevance of mechanics in physiology. The resulting flows are what drive the digestion. Changes in contractility of wave shapes of circular and longitudinal smooth muscle contractions and fluid rheology are known to affect the digestive process through generation of various flow patterns that differ in luminal pressure, peak velocity, extent of shearing/ mixing, volume of mixing, and flow rate. Recent studies indi- cate that the digestive process can be very specific such as to cause lipid digestion through segmental contractions and transport by eliciting propagating contrac- tions, suggesting that the intestine manages to digest a variety of food in an efficient manner by eliciting appropriate contractions.