Stress-Induced Changes in the Gastrointestinal Motor System
Several autonomic, hormonal, behavioural and neuropeptidergic bodily responses to stressful stimuli have been described over the past few decades. Both animal models and human paradigms have been explored. It is acknowledged that stress modulates gastrointestinal (GI) motility through central mechan...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
1999-01-01
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| Series: | Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/1999/320626 |
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| Summary: | Several autonomic, hormonal, behavioural and neuropeptidergic
bodily responses to stressful stimuli have been described over the
past few decades. Both animal models and human paradigms have
been explored. It is acknowledged that stress modulates gastrointestinal
(GI) motility through central mechanisms including
corticotropin-releasing-factor. This process requires the integrity
of autonomic neural pathways. It has become evident that the effects
of stress on GI motility vary according to the stressful
stimulus, its intensity, the animal species under study and the time
course of the study. Recent evidence suggests that chronic or possibly
permanent changes develop in enteric smooth muscle properties
in response to stress. In animals, the most consistent findings
include retardation of gastric emptying in response to various
stressors; acceleration of gastric emptying upon cold stress, presumably
through the secretion of brain thyroglobulin-hormone;
acceleration of intestinal transit; and stimulation of colonic transit
and fecal output. In humans, the cold water immersion test has
been associated with an inhibition of gastric emptying, while labyrinthine
stimulation induces the transition from postprandial to
fasting motor patterns in the stomach and the small bowel. Psychological
stress has been shown to induce a reduction in the
number and amplitude of intestinal migrating motor complexes
and to neither affect nor stimulate colonic motility. These various
responses to stress are presumably attributed to the preferential activation
of specific neuronal pathways under the influence of a
given stimulus or its intensity. The significance of these findings
and the directions of further studies are discussed. |
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| ISSN: | 0835-7900 |