Perhaps I should have been more specific when I said: "The intestine is a muscle. It does NOT have nerves!!"
Actually,I was referring to the "outer surface" of the intestines...the part of the intestines which, through the process of peristalsis, causes food to move through the digestive tract and finally to elimination. I still believe that this part of the intestines does not have nerves.
I can't argue with a textbook definition; because I have great difficulty trying to understand the information given there. But I do appreciate the fact that you did share this information on the Message Board.
As to the exact interpretation of the information from the textbook, I think that perhaps the interpretation of that information should be left to those, who practice medicine.
At Sat, 23 Dec 2000, chris wrote:
Helen: The intestines do have nerves. They are smooth muscles and muscles require innervation to work. There are also pain fibers in the intestines. It is true that different kinds of problems cause more or less pain, depending on what it is.
Taken from my physiology textbook:
"In Clinical diagnosis, pain from the different viscera (guts i.e. intestines) of the abdomen and chest is one of the few criteria that can be used for diagnosing visceral inflammation, disease, and other ailments. In general the viscera have sensory receptors for no other modalities of sensation besides pain and visceral pain differs from surface pain in many important aspects."
This is what you might be thinking of- "One of the most important differences between surface pain and visceral pain is that highly localized types of damage to the viscera rarely causes severe pain. For instance, a surgeon can cut the gut entirely in two in a patient who is awake without causing significant pain. (my interpretation of this is that cutting only the gut would do this, not through the muscles etc to get to the gut, that would cause extreme pain) On the other hand, any stimulus that causes diffuse stimulation of pain nerve endings throughout a viscus (visceral organ such as instestine) causes pain that can be extremely severe. For instance, occluding the blood supply to a large area of gut stimulates many diffuse pain fibers at the same time and can result in extreme pain."
Also "any stimulus that excites pain nerve endings in duffuse areas of the viscera (organ) causes visceral pain. (in other words, not the localized type of pain described above)Such stimuli include ischemia (decreased blood supply) of visceral tissue, spasm of the smooth muscle in a hollow viscus (organ), chemical damage to the surfaces of the viscera, distention of a hollow viscus (such as gas pain), or stretching of the ligaments (not sure what this means)
This is a bit technical but does point out that the visceral organs such as the intestine do have pain fibers. It depends on the problem how much they are stimulated. If you do a search "intestinal innervation" you will see many many articles on the innervation of the gut. You are right, when the peritoneum is stimulated (i.e. when adhesions attach the intestines to the peritoneal wall) that causes pain also.
Chris
At Sun, 10 Dec 2000, Helen Dynda wrote:
If the intestines are attached to the peritoneum or another abdominal organ, the peristalsis of the intestines WILL "pull" and thus cause pain that can be described as being a "burning" pain.
The intestine is a muscle. It does NOT have nerves!!
Definition of "peristalsis" -- the coordinated, rhythmic, serial contraction of smooth muscle that forces food through the digestive tract. "