The aim of this article is to investigate the cellular mechanisms underlying cholinergic modulation of the pyloric network in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of the Cape lobster Jasus Ialandii. Bath application of the muscarinic agonists muscarine, oxotremorine, and pilocarpine on the STG activates a rhythmic pattern from a quiescent pyloric network. The mechanisms of this modulation were inv...

Pyloric atresia is rare cause of gastrointestinal obstruction in neonates and usually occurs as an isolated anomaly. They have been associated with multiple small bowel and colonic atresias but not reported in association with isolated multiple colonic atresias. A case of pyloric atresia occurring in association with multiple colonic atresias is being reported here.

Using a radiological test for pyloric regurgitation described by Capper, Airth, and Kilby (1966), it was confirmed that the pylorus is normally competent but incompetent in gastric ulcer and chronic alcoholic gastritis and often incompetent in chronic duodenal ulcer. The significance of pyloric regurgitation in the aetiology of gastric ulcer is discussed.

Rhythmic motor activity often requires neuronal output to the muscles to arrive in a particular sequence. At the pattern-generator level, this requires distinct activity phases in different groups of constituent neurons. The phase differences between rhythmically active neurons in a network are thought to arise from the interplay between their intrinsic properties and the temporal dynamics of s...

Sensory neurons enable neural circuits to generate behaviors appropriate for the current environmental situation. Here, we characterize the actions of a population (about 60) of bilaterally symmetric bipolar neurons identified within the inner wall of the cardiac gutter, a foregut structure in the crab Cancer borealis. These neurons, called the ventral cardiac neurons (VCNs), project their axon...

Motor pattern selection from a multifunctional neural network often results from direct synaptic and modulatory actions of different projection neurons onto neural network components. Less well documented is the presence and function of interactions among distinct projection neurons innervating the same network. In the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab Cancer borealis, several distinct ...

Gastrointestinal (GI) development is highly conserved across vertebrates. Although several transcription factors and morphogenic proteins are involved in the molecular controls of GI development, the interplay between these factors is not fully understood. We report herein the expression pattern of Sox9 during GI development, and provide evidence that it functions, in part, to define the pylori...

Distributed neural networks (ones characterized by high levels of interconnectivity among network neurons) are not well understood. Increased insight into these systems can be obtained by perturbing network activity so as to study the functions of specific neurons not only in the network's "baseline" activity but across a range of network activities. We applied this technique to study cycle per...

AIMS To assess the efficacy of a new regimen of intravenous atropine treatment for infantile hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (IHPS) with special reference to regression of pyloric hypertrophy. METHODS Atropine was given intravenously at a dose of 0.01 mg/kg six times a day before feeding in 19 patients with IHPS diagnosed from radiographic and ultrasonographic findings. When vomiting ceased and...

In the lobster Jasus lalandii, 14 neurones of the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) are organized in a network that produces rhythmic pyloric outputs. In vitro experiments have shown that the STG neurones receive, via the stomatogastric nerve (stn), neuromodulatory inputs that influence the expression of the bursting properties of the neurones and the ability of the network to produce its rhythmic ...