The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the body’s organ system responsible for digestion, absorption, and excretion of matter vital for energy expenditure and compatibility with life. It utilizes a multitude of organs to achieve this, including the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, rectum, liver, biliary tract, pancreas, and glands that work together via complex mechanisms. It can do this using 3 distinct centers of control:
Myogenic control: The intrinsic rhythm of the GI musculature. This rhythm primarily occurs via slow waves, a natural property of GI smooth muscle, the rate of which gets set via pacemaker activity of the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC).
Hormonal control: This system utilizes various hormones, including cholecystokinin, gastrin, and secretin, among many others, for many functions.
Neural control: including the GI's intrinsic enteric nervous system and the autonomic nervous system.
These processes work together to achieve 4 major actions required for a properly functioning GI tract: motility, secretion, digestion, and absorption. This activity primarily focuses on neural control, specifically the physiologic function of the enteric and autonomic nervous systems and their associated pathology.
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