By: Leo Cheng, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Date: 24 May 2017
Time: 4:00 PM
Venue: Lecture Hall 7.01, Pfaffenwaldring 7
The digestive tract is responsible for the breakdown of ingested food, absorption of nutrients, and expulsion of waste. Like the heart, the contractions of the digestive tract are controlled by coordinated electrical events. These electrical events are known as slow waves. In certain disease states the slow waves can become uncoordinated and disordered, resulting in abnormal digestion patterns. Common symptoms of such diseases include nausea, bloating and vomiting.
I will describe the key advances in techniques used to measure slow wave activity from the gut over the last 100 years. Then, techniques currently used at the University of Auckland to study both the normal and diseased gut will be presented. High-density electrode arrays provide detailed information about the frequency, propagation pattern, and amplitudes of the slow wave activity. These data are used to inform biophysically based mathematical models. These models can in turn be used to conduct in silico trials. This integrated experimental-modelling framework provides a powerful approach for studying human physiology.