Neural Regulatory Mechanisms of Esophageal Motility and Its Implication for GERD

Abstract

On the other hand, since neural regulatory mechanisms of esophageal motiliy, especially roles of the intrinsic nervous system in the striated muscle portion, have remained to be clarified (Clouse & Diamant, 2006; Conklin & Christensen, 1994; Goyal & Chaudhury, 2008), little attention has been paid to the relationship between intrinsic neural regulatory mechanisms for esophageal motility and pathophysiology of GERD. Discussion of this relationship is important and might indicate novel therapeutic targets for GERD. In this chapter, we describe neural regulation of the esophageal motility on the basis of results www.intechopen.com Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease 4 of our studies, and we discuss the relationship between pathogenic mechanisms of GERD and esophageal dysmotility.