[Pressure-diameter-relationship of the papilla duodeni. An experimental study (author's transl)].

While extending the papilla duodeni of dogs by probes of increasing diameter, mural pressure was measured as an equilibration of the hydrostatic pressure within the probes along a distance of 12 mm. Pressure-diameter-curves at the duodenal end of the papilla show the mural pressure promptly increasing to a maximum when partially extended, then declining and rising again when extended extremely. Proximal to the papillary end the mural pressure first declines and then continuously increases with larger probe diameters. The pressure-diameter-curve of the papillary end resembles the length-tension-diagram of isolated smooth muscle in vitro, and represents the normal physiological action of the sphincter zone.