Gastrointestinal motility during sleep assessed by tracking of telemetric capsules combined with polysomnography - a pilot study

• Published in: Clinical and experimental gastroenterology Vol. 8; no. Issue 1; pp. 327 - 332
• Main Authors: Haase, Anne, Fallet, Sibylle, Otto, Marit, Scott, Mark S, Schlageter, Vincent, Krogh, Klaus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Zealand Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Abdomen; Accelerometers; Analysis; colonic movement; Data analysis; Diagnosis; Electrocardiography; Electroencephalography; Electromagnetism; gastric contractions; Gastroenterology; Gastrointestinal diseases; gastrointestinal motility; Heart rate; Inflammatory bowel disease; ingestible capsule; Investigations; Irritable bowel syndrome; Medical research; Motility; Neurophysiology; Original Research; polysomnography; Posture; Respiration; Risk factors; sleep; Sleep disorders; Software; Saudi Arabia; Denmark; Switzerland; Aarhus Denmark; sleep assessment; circadian motility; colonic movement; sleep stage; ingestible capsule; gastric contractions
• ISSN: 1178-7023; 1178-7023
• DOI: 10.2147/CEG.S91964

Studies of gastrointestinal function during sleep are hampered by lack of applicable techniques. Recent development of a novel ambulatory telemetric capsule system, which can be used in conjunction with polysomnography, offers a solution to this problem. The 3D-Transit system consists of ingestible electromagnetic capsules traceable through a portable extracorporeal receiver while traversing the gut. During sleep monitored by polysomnography, gastrointestinal motility was concurrently investigated using 3D-Transit in nine healthy subjects. Overall, the amplitude of gastric contractions decreased with depth of sleep (light sleep, N2 versus deep sleep, N3; P<0.05). Progression through the small intestine did not change with depth of sleep (Kruskal-Wallis probability =0.1), and there was no association between nocturnal awakenings or arousals and the occurrence of colonic or small intestinal propagating movements. Basal colonic activity was suppressed during both deep sleep (P<0.05) and light sleep (P<0.05) when compared with nocturnal wake periods. In conclusion, the novel ambulatory 3D-Transit system combined with polysomnography allows minimally invasive and completely ambulatory investigation of associations between sleep patterns and gastrointestinal motility.