Between Meals, the Stomach Is Cleared of Indigestible Material
Some types of ingested materials, such as bone and indigestible foreign objects, cannot be reduced to particles less than 2 mm in diameter. During the digestive phase of gastric motility, such material does not leave the stomach.
To clear the stomach of indigestible debris, a particular type of motility occurs between meals. This motility pattern is called the interdigestive motility complex. In association with this complex, the pylorus relaxes as strong waves of peristalsis sweep over the antrum, forcing less digestible material into the duodenum. This type of motility appears to have a “housekeeping” function in clearing the stomach of indigestible material.The peristaltic waves of the interdigestive motility complex occur at approximately I-hour intervals during the periods when the stomach is relatively empty of digestible material. Eating disrupts the complex and causes the resumption of the digestive motility pattern. Herbivores, which eat almost constantly, have a slightly different pattern; the interdigestive motility complex occurs at approximately hourly intervals, even with digestible food present in the stomach.
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