Chaotic behavior of gastric migrating myoelectrical complex

Nonlinear feedback induces oscillation, whereas dynamic equilibrium between positive and negative nonlinear feedback generates rhythm. Physiological rhythms are central to life. No absolutely stable or periodic rhythm exists in living tissues. It has been extensively reported that many rhythms in human and animal organs, such as the heart and brain, are, in fact chaotic. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the migrating myoelectrical complex (MMC) of the stomach was chaotic. The study was performed in eight healthy female hound dogs (15-22 kg), implanted with four pairs of bipolar electrodes on the serosa of the stomach along the greater curvature. After the dogs were completely recovered from the surgery, one complete cycle of gastric MMC was recorded from the serosal electrodes. Using Takens´ embedding theorem, two parameters reflecting chaotic behavior, the attractor and the Lyapunov exponent of the myoelectrical recording, were reconstructed and computed, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed to investigate the difference in the Lyapunov exponents among different phases of the MMC. The results show that the MMC of the stomach is chaotic. Different phases of the MMC are characterized with different shapes of the attractors and different values of Lyapunov exponents. The characteristic chaotic behavior of the gastric MMC may be utilized for the identification of different phases.