We investigated the effect of absorbable and nonabsorbable fluid perfusion and cleansing on colonic motor activity in eight intact conscious dogs. Each dog was instrumented with an indwelling catheter in the proximal colon and seven strain gauge transducers on the entire colon. After an overnight fast, a control recording was made for 3 h, followed by 3 h of perfusion and 3 additional h of postperfusion recording. Next day, a 3-h recording was made when the colon was empty. The colon exhibited normal migrating and nonmigrating motor complexes in the control uncleansed state. The perfusion of absorbable electrolyte or nonabsorbable Colyte solution immediately disrupted the migrating motor complexes and replaced them with almost continuous but irregular contractions at all recording sites. Both solutions significantly prolonged the mean and total duration per hour of contractile states in the proximal, middle, and distal colon. The dogs began to leak fluid stools in squirts approximately 40-80 min after the start of perfusion. This type of incontinence was not associated with any specific type of motor activity. Infrequently, giant migrating contractions occurred during perfusion and caused explosive diarrhea. The migrating motor complexes remained disrupted during the 3-h postperfusion period. However, on the next day, the empty colon exhibited normal migrating motor complexes. The frequency of giant migrating contractions during perfusion and in the empty colon was significantly greater than that in the normal uncleansed colon. The total duration per hour of colonic motor activity in the empty colon was also greater than that in the normal uncleansed colon. We conclude that excessive fluid in the colon significantly alters its motor pattern.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)