Regional variation in contribution of myenteric and intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal to generation of slow waves in mouse gastric antrum

When intracellular recordings were made from the antral region of murine stomach, cells with three different patterns of electrical activity were detected. One group of cells generated follower potentials, the second group generated pacemaker potentials and the third group generated slow waves that consisted of primary and secondary components. Slow waves recorded in different regions of the gastric antrum had similar amplitudes but different characteristic shapes. At the greater curvature, slow waves had large initial components. Midway between the greater and lesser curvature, the amplitude of the initial component was reduced and at the lesser curvature an initial component was difficult to detect. When the distributions of myenteric (ICC‐MY) and intramuscular interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC‐IM) were determined, using an antibody to Kit, ICC‐MY were found to be present at the greater curvature but were greatly reduced in density at the lesser curvature. In contrast, ICC‐IM were found in the circular layer of each region. When recordings were made from the antrum of W/W V mice, which lack ICC‐IM, incomplete slow waves were detected and their amplitudes fell from the greater to the lesser curvature. Again, a corresponding fall in the density of ICC‐MY was detected. The observations indicate that the contribution of ICC‐MY and ICC‐IM to the generation of slow waves varies in different regions of the mouse gastric antrum.