title: Chronic visceral hypersensitivity renders defecation more susceptible to stress via a serotonergic pathway in rats.
abstract: Visceral hypersensitivity, intestinal dysmotility, and stress play major roles in irritable bowel syndrome. However, the significance of visceral hypersensitivity in stress-induced changes of colorectal motor function is not conclusive. A rat model of chronic visceral hypersensitivity was induced by mechanical colorectal irritation during postnatal development. Defecation and colonic transit time were not different between the visceral hypersensitivity and the control groups at baseline. Stress and a 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) agonist both resulted in a significant increase in defecation in the visceral hypersensitivity group compared with the controls. Prior administration of granisetron, a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, inhibited stress-induced changes in defecation in the visceral hypersensitivity group as well as the controls. Stress-induced acceleration of colonic transit was not significantly different between the two groups. Our results indicate that chronic visceral hypersensitivity can modulate the effect of stress on defecation via a serotonergic pathway and suggest that visceral hypersensitivity may be related to the susceptibility of the defecative response to stressful events in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Sakamoto, Nagasaki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishiyama
authors.forename: Yohei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mizuta
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isomoto
authors.forename: Fuminao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takeshima
authors.forename: Katsuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Omagari
authors.forename: Yoshiyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyahara
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Murata
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kohno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003672:Defecation / Q000502:physiology*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D007420:Intestine, Large / Q000294:innervation / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014781:Viscera / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin