MEDizzy - A 49-year-old man undergoes vagotomy for his peptic ulcer

Feed Library Learning Discuss Leaderboard Journal

Gastrointestinal Physiology

A 49-year-old man undergoes vagotomy for his peptic ulcer disease. As a result, which of the following gastrointestinal motor activities will be affected most?

ExplanationOrad stomach accommodation depends exclusively on an intact vago-vagal reflex. Vagal innervation of the gastrointestinal tract extends from the esophagus to the level of the transverse colon. Preganglionic fibers from cell bodies in the medulla synapse with ganglion cells located in the enteric nervous system. Distention-induced contraction of gastrointestinal smooth muscle develops as the result of long (vago-vagal) and local (enteric nerves) reflexes. The importance of long versus local reflex pathways varies along the gut. Secondary esophageal peristalsis, intestinal segmentation, and migrating motor complexes are unaffected by vagotomy, whereas caudad stomach peristalsis is decreased but not abolished by vagotomy