Skip to main content
PMC home page
Gut logoLink to Gut
. 1973 Jan;14(1):35–40. doi: 10.1136/gut.14.1.35

Some observations on the intrinsic nervous mechanism in Hirschsprung's disease

G M Frigo, M Del Tacca, S Lecchini, A Crema
PMCID: PMC1412586  PMID: 4692252

Abstract

Both at rest and during transmural stimulation acetylcholine output from isolated longitudinal and circular muscle strips is significantly higher in the spastic segment than in the proximal dilated bowel. No difference has been found in the tissue concentration of acetylcholine between ganglionic and aganglionic specimens.

The pattern of response to transmural stimulation is also similar in the spastic and dilated bowel. However, after cholinergic and adrenergic blockade transmural stimulation fails to induce relaxation in aganglionic specimens, as it does in normal colon.

The hypotheses are advanced that the increase in acetylcholine output may be partly dependent on a failure of the intrinsic modulating mechanisms and that an alteration of the non-adrenergic inhibitory neurons may be involved in the motor disturbances of the aganglionic tract.

Full text

PDF
35

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ADAMS C. W., MARPLES E. A., TROUNCE J. R. Achalasia of the cardia and Hirschsprung's disease. The amount and distribution of cholinesterases. Clin Sci. 1960 Aug;19:473–481. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BEANI L., BIANCHI C. The extraction of acetylcholine in small samples of cerebral tissue. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1963 Apr;15:281–282. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-7158.1963.tb12785.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BODIAN M., CARTER C. O., WARD B. C. H. Hirschsprung's disease. Lancet. 1951 Feb 10;1(6650):302–309. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(51)92290-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Beani L., Bianchi C., Crema A. The effect of catecholamines and sympathetic stimulation on the release of acetylcholine from the guinea-pig colon. Br J Pharmacol. 1969 May;36(1):1–17. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1969.tb08298.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bennett A., Garrett J. R., Howard E. R. Adrenergic myenteric nerves in Hirschsprung's disease. Br Med J. 1968 Feb 24;1(5590):487–489. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5590.487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Burnstock G., Campbell G., Satchell D., Smythe A. Evidence that adenosine triphosphate or a related nucleotide is the transmitter substance released by non-adrenergic inhibitory nerves in the gut. Br J Pharmacol. 1970 Dec;40(4):668–688. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1970.tb10646.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Crema A., Del Tacca M., Frigo G. M., Lecchini S. Presence of a non-adrenergic inhibitory system in the human colon. Gut. 1968 Dec;9(6):633–637. doi: 10.1136/gut.9.6.633. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Crema A., Frigo G. M., Lecchini S. A pharmacological analysis of the peristaltic reflex in the isolated colon of the guinea-pig or cat. Br J Pharmacol. 1970 Jun;39(2):334–345. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1970.tb12897.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. DAVIDSON M., SLEISENGER M. H., STEINBERG H., ALMY T. P. Studies of distal colonic motility in children. III. The pathologic physiology of congenital megacolon (Hirschsprung's disease). Gastroenterology. 1955 Nov;29(5):803–824. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Del Tacca M., Soldani G., Selli M., Crema A. Action of catecholamines on release of acetylcholine from human taenia coli. Eur J Pharmacol. 1970 Jan;9(1):80–84. doi: 10.1016/0014-2999(70)90323-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. EHRENPREIS T., PERNOW B. On the occurrence of substance P in the rectosigmoid in Hirschsprung's disease. Acta Physiol Scand. 1953 Feb 28;27(4):380–388. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.1953.tb00953.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Ehrenpreis T. Hirschsprung's disease. Am J Dig Dis. 1971 Nov;16(11):1032–1052. doi: 10.1007/BF02235017. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Gannon B. J., Noblet H. R., Burnstock G. Adrenergic innervation of bowel in Hirschsprung's disease. Br Med J. 1969 Aug 9;3(5666):338–340. doi: 10.1136/bmj.3.5666.330-a. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Goldenberg M. M. Resistance to tetrodotoxin in the isolated ileum of the rat. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1971 Aug;23(8):621–622. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-7158.1971.tb08727.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hoar C. M., Paton W. D., Smith A. D. Subcellular localization of acetylcholine in Auerbach's plexus. J Physiol. 1971 Oct;218 (Suppl):92P–93P. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Howard E. R., Garrett J. R. Electron microscopy of myenteric nevrves in Hirschsprung's disease and in normal bowel. Gut. 1970 Dec;11(12):1007–1014. doi: 10.1136/gut.11.12.1007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Howard E. R., Nixon H. H. Internal anal sphincter. Observations on development and mechanism of inhibitory responses in premature infants and children with Hirschprung's disease. Arch Dis Child. 1968 Oct;43(231):569–578. doi: 10.1136/adc.43.231.569. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. KAMIJO K., HIATT R. B., KOELLE G. B. Congenital megacolon; a comparison of the spastic and hypertrophied segments with respect to Cholinesterase activities and sensitivities to Acetylcholine, DFP and the barium ion. Gastroenterology. 1953 Jun;24(2):173–185. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kosterlitz H. W., Lydon R. J., Watt A. J. The effects of adrenaline, noradrenaline and isoprenaline on inhibitory alpha- and beta-adrenoceptors in the longitudinal muscle of the guinea-pig ileum. Br J Pharmacol. 1970 Jun;39(2):398–413. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1970.tb12903.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Kuzmicheva N. A., Orlova A. S., Rodionov I. M., Rodionov V. M., Bolshakova T. D., Lukicheva T. A., Menshikov V. V., Frolov E. P., Yarygin V. N. Hyposensitivity of smooth muscle to noradrenaline caused by sympathetic hyperinnervation. Nature. 1969 Oct 25;224(5217):385–386. doi: 10.1038/224385a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. NIEMI M., KOUVALAINEN K., HJELT L. Cholinesterases and monoamine oxidase in congenital megacolon. J Pathol Bacteriol. 1961 Oct;82:363–366. doi: 10.1002/path.1700820214. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Ogura Y., Mori Y., Watanabe Y. Inhibition of the release of acetylcholine from isolated guinea-pig ileum by crystalline tetrodotoxin. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1966 Dec;154(3):456–462. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Paton W. D., Vizi E. S. The inhibitory action of noradrenaline and adrenaline on acetylcholine output by guinea-pig ileum longitudinal muscle strip. Br J Pharmacol. 1969 Jan;35(1):10–28. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1969.tb07964.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Shepherd J. J., Wright P. G. The application of studies in vitro to the management of Hirschsprung's disease and of megacolon in adults. Am J Dig Dis. 1968 May;13(5):434–442. doi: 10.1007/BF02233665. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Smith B. Disorders of the myenteric plexus. Gut. 1970 Mar;11(3):271–274. doi: 10.1136/gut.11.3.271. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Smith B. Myenteric plexus in Hirschsprung's disease. Gut. 1967 Jun;8(3):308–312. doi: 10.1136/gut.8.3.308. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. TROUNCE J. R., NIGHTINGALE A. Studies in Hirschsprung's disease. Arch Dis Child. 1960 Aug;35:373–377. doi: 10.1136/adc.35.182.373. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Weinberg A. G. The anorectal myenteric plexus: its relation to hypoganglionosis of the colon. Am J Clin Pathol. 1970 Oct;54(4):637–642. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/54.4.637. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wright P. G., Shepherd J. J. Response to drugs of isolated human colonic muscle from a case of Hirschsprung's disease. Lancet. 1965 Dec 4;2(7423):1161–1164. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(65)92562-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Gut are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES