Rhongua ZhuGe, PhD, associate professor of microbiology and physiological systems at University of Massachusetts Medical School and a senior author of the study, and colleagues examined the internal anal sphincter that controls bowel continence in mice.
Here are three points:
1. The researchers found genetic deletion of the calcium-independent MLC phosphatase enzyme in the smooth muscle had no effect on the basal tone of the mouse sphincter.
2. Deletion of calcium-dependent MLC kinase enzyme essentially abolishes the basal tone and mice become incontinent as a result.
3. Experiments showed these local calcium releases have no direct role in muscle tone.
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