Aging and gastrointestinal neuromuscular function: insights from within and outside the gut.

This review will examine the effects of advanced physiological aging on gastrointestinal (GI) neuromuscular anatomy and function. We will emphasize contributions from the past several years, and build-upon the excellent reviews of Camilleri et al. and Bitar and Patil. We will not include references to early developmental changes in the enteric nervous system (ENS). We will begin with a review of our current understanding of the effects of advanced age in the human GI tract and use these observations as a foundation to examine potentially relevant mechanisms underlying physiological aging. Using data from animal models, we have included references to mechanistically driven studies that focus on extraintestinal sites where we consider that these observations have relevance to physiological aging involving GI neuromuscular function. EFFECT OF AGING ON GI NEUROMUSCULAR FUNCTION IN THE HUMAN