Chronic alcohol consumption affects gastrointestinal motility and reduces the proportion of neuronal NOS-immunoreactive myenteric neurons in the murine jejunum.
Alcohol consumption interferes with gastrointestinal transit causing symptoms in alcoholic patients. Nitric oxide (NO), synthesized by neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) plays an important role in the control of gastrointestinal motility. Our aim was to investigate whether chronic alcohol intake in a murine model induces gastrointestinal motility disturbances and affects the nitrergic myenteric neurons in the stomach and jejunum. Gastric emptying, small intestinal transit and geometric centre were measured in vivo after intragastric gavage of Evans blue. Nitrergic relaxations to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and exogenous NO were recorded in jejunal muscle strips in vitro. The proportion of nNOS-immunopositive myenteric neurons was assessed using PGP9.5 and nNOS immunostaining. After chronic alcohol consumption, gastric emptying and small intestinal transit were delayed compared with control mice, and the nitrergic nerve-mediated relaxations to EFS in the jejunum were decreased, whereas relaxations to exogenous NO did not differ. The proportion of nNOS-immunoreactive neurons did not change in the stomach, whereas in the jejunum the percentage decreased from 33% to 27% (P < 0.001) after chronic alcohol intake. The total number of myenteric neurons remained unchanged. These results suggest that chronic alcohol consumption disturbs gastric and small intestinal motility in vivo and in vitro and is associated with a decrease in the proportion of nNOS-immunoreactive myenteric neurons in the murine jejunum.
Bagyánszki
Mária
M
Laboratory of Cell Biology and Histology, Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Krecsmarik
Mónika
M
De Winter
Benedicte Y
BY
De Man
Joris G
JG
Fekete
Eva
E
Pelckmans
Paul A
PA
Adriaensen
Dirk
D
Kroese
Alfons B A
AB
Van Nassauw
Luc
L
Timmermans
Jean-Pierre
JP
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility; D007583:Jejunum / Q000294:innervation* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D026602:Nitrergic Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I / Q000378:metabolism; D013270:Stomach / Q000294:innervation* / Q000503:physiopathology
D009569:Nitric Oxide; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; C496321:Nos1 protein, mouse