An investigation was undertaken to measure medial olivocochlear (MOC) reflexes in anesthetized rats before and after sectioning of the middle-ear muscles. Distortion product otoacoustic emission (DPOAE) magnitude and phase temporal responses were measured ipsilaterally to study MOC-mediated BDPOAE onset adaptation^and in the presence of a contralateral noise to study MOC-mediated contralateral Bsuppression^(terms as used by previous researchers). Distortion product otoacoustic emission onset adaptation and contralateral suppression had predictable changes in direction of magnitude and phase that were dependent on the inputYoutput function. After sectioning of the middle-ear muscles (MEMs), DPOAE onset adaptation and contralateral suppression were greatly reduced, and there were little, if any, changes in phase. These Bresidualĉ hanges were interpreted as a result of the MOC reflex. The results suggest that what appears to be DPOAE onset adaptation and contralateral suppression can be mediated primarily by MEM reflexes. When studying MOC effects on otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) using acoustic stimulation, it is necessary to make recordings over a span of stimulus levels. In addition, looking at both magnitude and phase of the OAE may help separate what is due to the MOC reflex from MEM reflex.

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Spontaneous electrical activity was recorded with bipolar electrodes from the gastrointestinal tracts of unanesthetized fasted cats (upper and lower cut-off frequencies: 35 and 3 Hz). In addition to slow waves (SWs) and spike potentials (SPs), the following three patterns of activity were recorded that are not observed in vitro. 1) Intense bursts of SPs (migrating spike complexes, MSCs) migrate caudally at a velocity of approximately 1 mm/s. MSCs resemble migrating myoelectric complexes (MMCs) in their velocity and by their traversal of intestinal anastomoses. SWs are usually suppressed during and immediately after the MSC, and, on their return, propagate at a higher velocity than they do prior to the MSC. Unlike its effect on MMCs, motilin does not appear to elicit MSCs, a finding consistent with the fact that MSCs occur infrequently in the duodenum and not at all in the antrum. 2) Bursts of SPs are found in the absence of recorded SWs. The SP bursts are of variable duration and occur virtually simultaneously at several recording sites, or propagate at 1-2 cm/s in either direction along the jejunum. The more usual caudally propagating SPs occur when SWs reappear. 3) "Minute rhythms," periods of spiking SWs, occur simultaneously over long lengths of upper bowel, sometimes including antrum, at intervals of about 1-2 min. It is proposed that, despite their differences, the cat MSC may be the functional counterpart of the MMC, that cat SWs are not omnipresent, and that the minute rhythms described here are of central origin.

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