Interstitial Cells of Cajal Intestinal Pacemaker Cells [Paperback]

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Survey of Literature on ICC.- 1.1.1 Morphological Evidence.- 1.1.2 Staining Characteristics.- 1.1.3 Results of Denervation Experiments.- 1.1.4 Topographical Relations: The Intercalation Hypothesis.- 1.2 Contraction Waves and Nodes of Smooth Muscle.- 2 Material and Methods.- 3 Results.- 3.1 Survey of the Organization of the Serosa and Muscularis Externa.- 3.2 Interstitial Cells Associated with Auerbachs Plexus.- 3.2.1 ICC-I.- 3.2.2 Macrophage-Like Cells.- 3.2.3 Other Interstitial Cells.- 3.3 Interstitial Cells of the Subserous Compartment and Within the Longitudinal Muscle Layer.- 3.4 Interstitial Cells Associated with Plexus Muscularis Profundus (Cajal).- 3.5 Interstitial Cells Within the Outer, Main Layer of Circular Muscle.- 3.6 Contraction Patterns of Muscularis Externa.- 3.6.1 Contraction Waves and Broad Contraction Nodes.- 3.6.2 Patterns of Narrow Contraction Nodes.- 3.7 Mechanisms of the Supravital Methylene Blue Staining Technique: Results and Discussion.- 4 Discussion.- 4.1 General Organization of Muscularis Externa.- 4.2 Topographical Relations of ICC (-I and -II) to Cells of the Longitudinal Muscle Layer.- 4.3 Topographical Relations of ICC (-I, -III, and -IV) to Cells of the Circular Muscle Layer.- 4.4 Nature of ICC.- 4.5 Contraction Waves and Nodes: Relations to Auerbachs Plexus and Associated ICC.- 4.6 Functions of ICC (and MLC).- 4.6.1 ICC-I: Pacemaker Cells.- 4.6.2 ICC-II, -III, -IV: Conductive Functions?.- 4.6.3 ICC-III: The Intercalation Suggests a Regulatory Function.- 4.6.4 MLC: Regulatory (Secretory) Functions?.- 4.7 Conclusion.- 4.8 Perspective.- 4.8.1 Origin of ICC.- 4.8.2 Peripheral Distribution of ICC.- 4.8.3 Observations of Possible Relation to the Phenomena of Contraction Waves and Nodes.- 5 Summary.- References.Springer Book Archives