Reflex excitation of antral motility induced by gastric distension in the ferret.

1. In the urethane anaesthetized ferret gastric inflation with 50 ml. 0.9% NaCl at a rate of 10 ml./min evoked large gastric contractions. The threshold of intragastric pressure required to elicit the reflex was 3.1 +/- 0.5 cmH2O. 2. The response was enhanced by splanchnic nerve section and markedly reduced by bilateral cervical vagotomy, indicating that both afferent and efferent limbs of the reflex were in the vagus nerves. 3. By using a transected stomach it was shown that distension of the corpus evoked contractions of the antrum that were abolished by vagotomy. 4. The reflex activation of antral motility by vagal afferents with receptive fields in the corpus may play a physiological role in gastric emptying.