Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a leading form of inflammatory bowel disease that involves chronic relapsing or progressive inflammation. As a significant proportion of UC patients treated with conventional therapies do not achieve remission, there is a pressing need for the development of more effective therapies. The human gut contains a large, diverse, and dynamic population of microorganisms, co...

The enteric nervous system may have an important role in modulating gastrointestinal barrier response to disease through activation of enteric glia cells. In vitro studies have shown that enteric glia activation improves intestinal epithelial barrier function by altering the expression of tight junction proteins. We hypothesized that severe injury would increase expression of glial fibrillary a...

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a transmitter of enteric interneurons, targeting excitatory GABA(A) or inhibitory GABA(B) receptors that modulate motility and mucosal function. Enteric GABA may also subserve hormonal and paracrine signaling. Disruption in gastrointestinal function following perturbation of enteric GABA receptors presents potential new target sites for drug development.

Experience has shown that neither drugs nor vaccines can hope to solve the world's enteric disease problems. But oral-fluid therapy, which has sharply reduced cholera mortality, is proving effective in treating other enteric diseases as well. And most developing countries are making real progress in providing the safe water supplies and sanitary conditions that deny enteric pathogens an opportu...

Although the mature enteric nervous system (ENS) has been shown to retain stem cells, enteric neurogenesis has not previously been demonstrated in adults. The relative number of enteric neurons in wild-type (WT) mice and those lacking 5-HT(4) receptors [knock-out (KO)] was found to be similar at birth; however, the abundance of ENS neurons increased during the first 4 months after birth in WT b...

BACKGROUND Enteric nervous system abnormalities have been described in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. However, the mechanisms responsible for these abnormalities remain to date largely unknown. AIMS We investigated the potential role of apoptotic phenomena in enteric neurons and enteroglial cells in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. PATIENTS AND METHODS Full-thickness s...

The association between Gram negative enteric rods and Porphyromonas gingivalis in periodontal diseases has received little attention in the literature. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the associations between Gram negative enteric rods, Porphyromonas gingivalis and clinical parameters of periodontal disease. The prevalence of Gram-negative enteric rods and P. gingivalis were exa...

The enteric nervous system arises from neural crest cells that migrate as chains into and along the primitive gut, subsequently differentiating into enteric neurons and glia. Little is known about the mechanisms governing neural crest migration en route to and along the gut in vivo. Here, we report that Retinoic Acid (RA) temporally controls zebrafish enteric neural crest cell chain migration. ...

OBJECTIVE Cystinosis causes renal and other organ failure. Regular 6-hourly cysteamine bitartrate (Cystagon; Mylan, Morgantown, West Virginia) reduces intracellular cystine and the rate of organ deterioration. A formulation of cysteamine requiring less frequent dosing may improve compliance and possibly patient outcome. METHODS Enteric-release cysteamine was prepared. For a period of 1 month,...

The enteric nervous system (ENS) in mammals forms from neural crest cells during embryogenesis and early postnatal life. Nevertheless, multipotent progenitors of the ENS can be identified in the adult intestine using clonal cultures and in vivo transplantation assays. The identity of these neurogenic precursors in the adult gut and their relationship to the embryonic progenitors of the ENS are ...