2024 Volume 61 Issue 2 Pages 142-147
We have elucidated the regulatory mechanism of colorectal motility by the central nervous system in rats. We found that noxious stimuli in the colon are transmitted via the spinal cord to the brain, and that colorectal motility is enhanced through the activation of descending pain modulatory pathways, the release of monoamines in the defecation center of the lumbosacral spinal cord, and the activation of pelvic nerves. The importance of the medullary raphe nuclei and hypothalamus A11 region as the origin of the descending nerves was also clarified. In addition, pharmacogenetic inhibition of the activity of the nerves descending from these nuclei to the spinal cord was also found to suppress defecation induced by water avoidance stress. In this article, we summarize our findings on the central regulatory mechanism of colorectal motility.
