Gut Instincts: A data driven approach to mouse colon modeling

Colon motility, the spontaneous self-generated movement and motion of the colon muscle and its cells, is produced by activity in different types of cells such as myenteric neurons of the enteric nervous system (ENS), neurons of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). Two colon motor patterns measured experimentally are colonic motor complexes (CMC) often associated with the propulsion of fecal contents, and ripple contractions which are involved in mixing and absorption. How ICC and neurons of the ENS and ANS interact to initiate and influence colon motility is still not completely understood. This makes it difficult to develop new therapies to restore function in pathological conditions. We aim to create a model that reproduces the global dynamics observed in optogenetic and calcium measurements of mouse colons. In particular, we focus on how certain coupling parameters affect the speed and frequency of the observed CMC and ICC waves and how other parameters affect the robustness of the model.