Roles of interstitial cells of Cajal in regulation of motility of the mouse intestine

Abstract

The role of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in contractile activity of the gastrointestinal tract has been intensely studied. Among ICC present within various regions of the gastrointestinal tissue, ICC within the myenteric plexus (ICC-MY) and within the submuscular plexus (ICC-SMP) are regarded as the pacemaker. Action potentials initiated in ICC were suggested to propagate to adjacent smooth muscle cells and to induce the spontaneous activity. It was suggested that ACh-mediated contraction and nitric oxide-mediated relaxation were induced after these neuronal signals were transmitted to ICC and then to smooth muscle via the gap junction. This suggestion was based on the findings mainly in the esophagus, stomach, and small intestine by using ICC-deficient mice (W/Wv and S1/S1d). In our studies, ICC-MY were shown to be closely associated with neuron-mediated contractile and relaxant responses and to be associated with neural reflexes for peristalsis, since ascending and descending reflexes were not seen in W/Wv mice. In the distal colon of W/Wv mice, in which ICC-MY and -IM were lost, these neural responses remained unchanged. It seems likely that ICC-MY and ICC-IM do not have any role in inducing these responses in the distal colon. It is concluded that the extent of association of ICC with the motility and the manner of the association vary from region to region in the gastrointestinal tract.