Talk:Peristalsis

questions
does peristalsis only occur in humans

in sperm tubes
I '''remember being taught in school that perstalsis isn't just about the digestive system, but refers to the general movement of muscles in this way,ch also happens in the sperm tubes. --'Nathan (Talk) 07:02, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

food
peristalsis depends a lot on the amount of food you eat —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 152.106.240.139 (talk • contribs) 13:57, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Peristalis
What exactly does it do? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.9.224.139 (talk) 15:30, 6 December 2006 (UTC).


 * it is a wave like contraction of circular muscles that 'pushes' some thing along a track. IE: swallowing food, your esophegus pushes the food along. the effect is similar to if you squeezed a hose gently with two fingers and pushed a small object along inside by sliding your fingers along the hose, except in your body the tube contracts by itself without needing to be squeezed. Sahuagin 15:28, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Trigger?
in the intestine, what triggers peristalsis? i thought i read somewhere that it was the presence of bile that triggers it, but I can't prove or disprove that from the articles about these subjects. Sahuagin 15:25, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Peristalsis is initiated by swallowing I believe, the contractions propogate down the entire digestive tract. I know the contractions of the stomach to squirt chyme into the duodenum (sp) are slowed by the presence of fats and protein, I'm not sure if bile has a similar effect.  WLU 13:38, 16 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but I meant in the intestines. When there are solids travelling through the intestines, what triggers the peristalsis in the intestines? Sahuagin 21:36, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Looked in my anatomy text, couldn't find how. Here is an unreffed link that seems to say it is controlled by the nervous system -, but it's not super specific.  --WLU 01:58, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Control
I moved the following section from the main page - a better means of integrating this informatino should be found, and it's better if it comes from a more recent source. I could see it being integrated along with a statement about the control of peristalsis - what nerves stimulate mixing and movement, but I don't know enough about peristalsis to do so. WLU 19:36, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

It has been claimed that the proper practice of yoga can lead to voluntary or conscious control of peristalsis.
 * Miscellaneous

1. The Lotus and the Robot, Wikipedia article, about the 1960 book by Arthur Koestler.
 * References

About peristalsis in the digestive system only
Peristalsis does not only occur in the digestive system. The lymphatic system for example uses it also. This article appears to be exclusively about the digestive system. should this be fixed? 125.236.168.115 (talk) 00:06, 24 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Indeed, if you're sure of this, though you'd be better if you had a source. I had thought that the lymph vessels had no smooth muscles and were transported mainly through the skeletal-muscle pump, but I've been wrong before.  WLU (talk) 00:13, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

i have no clue —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.125.176.116 (talk) 03:30, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Esophagus/oesophagus
This page is going to conform to WP standard and use the same spelling as the page Esophagus. The "oe" spelling is archaic, and rarely used in the technical literature (~35k articles for "oesophagus" since 1991 vs 195k articles for "esophagus" in the same date range via Google Scholar). Anyone who wants to make a serious argument about this should post here before editing. Edits to "oesophagus" without talk page consensus, and especially by anonymous IPs, will be considered vandalsim and will be reported to the admins if persistent. Mokele (talk) 16:39, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

something is wrong with template at article bottom
It doesn't make sense. Loopy48 (talk) 22:27, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Teleology
It's best to use care in word choice to avoid any suggestion of teleology in articles such as this. The last sentence under the heading Esophagus reads: "This process works in one direction only and its sole purpose is to move food from the mouth into the stomach." Saying; "...its sole purpose..." is teleological. Saying: "...its sole function..." would be much better. Wikifan2744 (talk) 11:13, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

There is another instance of teleological reference under the heading Small Intestine: "... Its primary purpose is to mix the chyme in the intestine...." Much preferable would be: "...its primary function is to mix the chyme..." Wikifan2744 (talk) 11:44, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

"Faecal contents" (faeces) is not the correct designation
Under the section Large Intestine it says: "As opposed to the more continuous peristalsis of the small intestines, faecal contents are propelled into the large intestine by periodic mass movements...." Faeces is defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as: " the solid waste passed out of the body of a human or animal through the bowels"; and by Merriam-Webster as: "bodily waste discharged through the anus : excrement." "Faecal contents," I think, means "faeces." And faeces is synonymous with "stool" and is not the correct word for the contents of the colon, except for the contents of the rectum and of the very last part of the colon that is no longer actively exchanging molecules with the rest of the body via the bloodstream. A better designation should, I think, be chosen. See also:  and  Wikifan2744 (talk) 13:23, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

That better designation may simply be the word "chyme," used earlier in the article. The Wikipedia article on "Chyme"  says in the section "Path of chyme": "In the large intestine, bacteria break down proteins and starches in chyme that were not fully digested. When all of the nutrients have been absorbed from chyme, the remaining waste material changes into semi solids called feces, which then passes to the rectum, to be stored until it is ready to be expelled from the body." Wikifan2744 (talk) 13:38, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

what is this
"

In contrast to peristalsis, segmentation involves coordinated smooth muscle contractions Migrating motor complex that result in that churning and mixing without pushing materials further down the digestive tract."

doesn't make sense Secondplanet (talk) 18:15, 5 September 2014 (UTC)