The transient potassium (K+) current, or A-current (IA), plays an essential role in shaping the firing properties of identified neurons in the 14-cell pyloric network in the stomatogastric ganglion of the spiny lobster, Panulirus interruptus. The different cells in the pyloric network have distinct IAs. To begin to understand the molecular basis for IA heterogeneity, we examined the relationshi...

PURPOSE We retrospectively investigated the feasibility and clinical efficacy of balloon dilatation and subsequent retrievable stent insertion, when necessitated, for pyloric spasms after pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG). MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-five patients experiencing pyloric spasms after PPG underwent fluoroscopic balloon dilations to alleviate obstructive symptoms due to delayed...

The pyloric rhythm of the stomatogastric ganglion of the crab, Cancer borealis, slows or stops when descending modulatory inputs are acutely removed. However, the rhythm spontaneously resumes after one or more days in the absence of neuromodulatory input. We recorded continuously for days to characterize quantitatively this recovery process. Activity bouts lasting 40-900 s began several hours a...

Objective: To evaluate the antiulcer activity of chloroform extract of Cedrus deodara and Pinus roxburghii wood (Cd C and Pr C, respectively). Methods: Cd C and Pr C at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg were given orally to fasted rats and ulcers were induced by pyloric ligation and ethanol. Number of ulcer, ulcer score, ulcer index, percentage ulcer inhibition and tissue histology were measured in bot...

1. Stretching the pyloric region of the lobster's stomach in a manner that resembles pyloric dilation triggers a prolonged burst of impulses in two interneurones with axons in the inferior ventricular nerve (IVN). The burst is activated in the oesophageal ganglion by sensory axons that traverse the lateral ventricular nerves, the dorsal ventricular nerve and the stomatogastric nerve. These sens...

The stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) of the embryonic lobster is rhythmically active prior to hatching, before the network is needed for feeding. In the adult lobster, two rhythms are typically observed: the slow gastric mill rhythm and the more rapid pyloric rhythm. In the embryo, rhythmic activity in both embryonic gastric mill and pyloric neurons occurs at a similar frequency, which is s...

Rhythmic motor pattern generation by the pyloric network in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion (STG) requires neuromodulatory inputs from adjacent ganglia. However, although suppression of these inputs by cutting the stomatogastric nerve (stn) causes the pyloric network to fall silent, network output similar to that expressed when the stn is intact returns after 3-4 days in organ culture. Intr...

The distribution of red pigment concentrating hormone (RPCH)-like immunoreactivity (RPLI) in the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab, Cancer borealis, was studied using whole-mount immunocytochemistry. RPLI was seen in neuropilar processes in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG), and in somata in the oesophageal ganglion and commissural ganglia. Staining was blocked by preincubating the anti...

Six neuromodulators [proctolin, Cancer borealis tachykinin-related peptide Ia, crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP), red pigment-concentrating hormone, TNRNFLRFamide, and pilocarpine] converge onto the same voltage-dependent inward current in stomatogastric ganglion (STG) neurons of the crab C. borealis. We show here that each of these modulators acts on a distinct subset of pyloric network n...

Intraluminal impedance recording has made it possible to record fluid transport across the pylorus during the interdigestive state without filling the stomach. During antral phase II, fluid transport occurs with and without manometrically detectable antral contraction. Our aim was to investigate the relationships between ultrasonographic patterns of antral contraction, manometric pressure waves...