Delayed gastrointestinal transit time and changes of ileum myenteric plexus in diabetic rats

Objective To investigate the morphologic abnormalities of myenteric plexus in diabetic rats and to explore the mechanism of its effect on gastrointestinal motility.Methods Thirty rats were randomly divided into diabetic group and control group.Gastrointestinal transit time was measured and histologic changes of cholinergic and nitriergic nerves in ileum myenteric plexus were observed with enzy- matic histochemistry.Results Four months after the establishment of the diabetic rats model,gastroin- testinal transit time was found delayed comparing with control group,the density of cholinergic neurons in the ileum myenteric plexus was decreased (P＜0.01) and the densities of nitriergic ganglions and neurons were significantly increased comparing with control group (P＜0.05 and P＜0.01).Conclu- sion Decrease of cholinergic nerves and increase of nitriergic nerves in the myenteric plexus of intestine is one of the mechanisms of delay gastrointestinal transit time in diabetic rats.