The enteric nervous system (ENS) is derived from neural crest cells that migrate along the gastrointestinal tract to form a network of neurons and glia that are essential for regulating intestinal motility. Despite the number of genes known to play essential roles in ENS development, the molecular etiology of congenital disorders affecting this process remains largely unknown. To determine the ...

Reflex behaviors of the intestine are controlled by the enteric nervous system (ENS). The ENS is an integrative network of neurons and glia in two ganglionated plexuses housed in the gut wall. Enteric neurons and enteric glia are the only cell types within the enteric ganglia. The activity of enteric neurons and glia is responsible for coordinating intestinal functions. This protocol describes ...

As we enter the 21st century, the segment of the population that is the most rapidly expanding is that comprised of individuals 85 yr of age and older. Dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal (GI) system, including dysphagia, constipation, diarrhea, and irritable bowel syndrome are more common complaints of the elderly, yet our knowledge of the aging GI tract is incomplete. Compared with the rapid...

Epidermal nuclear staining occurs as a result of anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) deposition in the nucleus of keratinocyte (‘In vivo ANA’). The frequency with which it occurs in various CTD’s varies between 2.6-9.8%.[2] The high prevalence in our study could be due to the smaller study sample. Four different patterns of ENS (viz. speckled, homogenous, nucleolar and rim) have been reported in the li...

In this paper, effect of the islands number variation in restoration process is investigated and a graph based method for determination of optimum islands boundaries is presented. Also, the effect of number and location of black-start units on the restoration process is evaluated. In optimization process, objective function is minimizing Energy Not Supplied (ENS) and constraints are voltage mar...

Background: The appropriate expression of specific neurotransmitter receptors within the cellular networks which compose the enteric nervous system (ENS) is central to the regulation of gastrointestinal (GI) functions. Whilst the ENS expression patterns of the neurotransmitter glutamate have been well documented, the localisation of its receptors on ENS neurons remains to be fully characterised...

It is unclear whether neurogenesis occurs in the adult mammalian enteric nervous system (ENS). Neural crest-derived cells capable of forming multilineage colonies in culture, and neurons and glia upon transplantation into chick embryos, persist throughout adult life in the mammalian ENS. In this study we sought to determine the physiological function of these cells. We discovered that these cel...

The vasculature and nervous system share striking similarities in their networked, tree-like architecture and in the way they are super-imposed in mature organs. It has previously been suggested that the intestinal microvasculature network directs the migration of enteric neural crest cells (ENCC) along the gut to promote the formation of the enteric nervous system (ENS). To investigate the int...

This paper considers large discrete-time linear systems obtained from discretized partial differential equations, and controlled by a quantized law, i.e., a piecewise constant time function taking a finite set of values. We show how to generate the control by, first, applying model reduction to the original system, then using a “state-space bisection” method for synthesizing a control at the re...