Neurogenic and non-neurogenic mechanisms in response of rat distal colon muscle to dextran sulphate sodium treatment

We studied, by organ bath methodology, how experimental colitis in rat, induced by the administration of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) in the drinking water (3% for 3 or 7 days, or 5% for 7 days; Controls received ordinary tap water), may influence spontaneous, contractile activity of the longitudinal muscle layer. DSS treatment caused a dose-dependent increase in phasic contractile activity of the colon muscle. This effect needed an optimal preload of the tissues to be evident, and was non-neurogenic (i.e. myogenic and/or paracrine) in nature. Moreover, the DSS treatment appeared to impair a neurogenic, nitric oxide (NO)-dependent, relaxant response to the stretch (i.e. preload) applied to the tissues. Inducible NO synthase was localized by immunohistochemistry to infiltrating mononuclear cells in the colon wall. We propose that NO, via the inducible pathway, exerts marked effects on the neuromuscular apparatus in the DSS model of experimental colitis.