The cortical response to esophageal, stomach or rectal stimulation has been studied using several different modalities including evoked potentials, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and positron emission tomography. However, there is no information concerning the cerebral cortical response to sensory signals that originate in the biliary tract in humans.
A research article to be published on April 14, 2010 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The study group led by Jin Kan Sai, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Juntendo University, Japan, used fMRI to investigate the cerebral cortical response to biliary stimulation in humans. Biliary balloon stimulation elicited activation of the insular cortex, prefrontal cortex, and somatosensory cortex.
The present findings are the first step in the evaluation of cerebral response to bile duct balloon distention, and show the possibility of the presence of pressure sensitive vagal afferents in the biliary tract and the cortical relay of these afferents beyond the brainstem.
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v16/i14/1772.htm
Correspondence to: Jin Kan Sai, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Juntendo University, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan. jinkans@juntendo.ac.jp
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About World Journal of Gastroenterology
World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H. pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2008 IF: 2.081. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.
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World Journal of Gastroenterology