Page 113 - The Miracle of Electricity in the Body

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Electrical Order in Muscles of the Digestive System

Every detail in the human body, from a single cell to the hormones it secretes,
reveals proofs of God’s magnificent creation. Examining the features of the di-
gestive system, for instance, we see that the components necessary for the di-
gestion of foodstuffs all possess the most complex structures. And all these
components are in constant communication with one another, know when
they need to go into action, and can perform all the processes necessary to
make nutrients beneficial to the body and for harmful substances to be weeded
out.
Different mechanisms allow foodstuffs to travel along the digestive tract. The
smooth muscles in the intestines contract involuntarily, and thanks to these
muscles’ rhythmic contraction, nutrients always progress in a single direction.
A team led by Jan D. Huizinga, Ph. D., a researcher for Intestinal Disease
Research Program, from McMaster University in Canada, studied the cells that
permit this single-direction movement. In their research they located micro-
electrodes along the digestive tract. These micro-electrodes determined that
the interstitial cells of Cajal set up a constant and regular electrical current,
which permits muscles in the intestinal wall, laid out like the links of a chain, to
contract one after the other.
On its own, however, the flawless formation of an electrical current is not
enough for this mechanism to function. At the same time, the current needs to
have a flawless rhythm. For that reason, the cells of Cajal set up a network in
the intestines. It is this network that permits them to discharge the electrical
current with the same rhythm (Science et Vie, September
1998).
Thanks to this flawless system, the food you eat travels
in one direction along the digestive tract, to be convert-
ed into a form that is useful to the body. Were it is not
for the rhythmic electrical current set up by the cells
of Cajal, the intestinal muscles could not contract in
such a harmonious manner. That could lead to the
food eaten traveling back towards the stomach in-
stead of in a single direction. Yet apart from cas-
es of serious illness, such a distressing situa-
tion never arises. As can be seen in this ex-
ample, the system in the human body cre-
ated by God is flawless in all respects.