Effect of sennosides on colon motility in cats.

The actions of sennosides on colonic motility are incompletely understood. We therefore studied the effects of sennosides A + B on colonic myoelectric activity and transit of a radio-opaque meal in 7 conscious cats. Intraduodenal application of sennosides (2 mg/kg body weight) accelerated the half colon transit time from 60 +/- 10 (SEM) to 43 +/- 7 min. At the same time the ratio of long-spike bursts to short-spike bursts was changed from 0.22 to 10.1. Loperamide, an antidiarrheal agent, had the opposite effect. The overall spike activity was not altered by sennosides, but increased by loperamide. It is concluded that the propulsive action of sennosides in the colon is reflected by myoelectric patterns and not by the total number of spikes.