Mouse Stomach Tissue
The digital image featured in this section is a three-dimensional reconstruction of a 30-micrometer section of mouse stomach fundus tissue stained with Alexa Fluor 350 (wheat germ agglutinin; highlighting lectins), Alexa Fluor 568 (phalloidin; labeling actin filaments), and SYTOX Green (nuclei). The resting tone of the gastric fundus founds a pressure gradient that empties liquids into the duodenum. In the fasting state, the migrating motor complex, or the observable pattern of electromechanical activity in gastrointestinal smooth muscle during periods between meals, produces habitual occurrences of increased peristalsis that clears undigested solids into the small bowel and propels them distally.