COMMENTARY

Enteric glial

Glial regulation of neuronal plasticity in the gut: implications for clinicians

A Rühl

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr A Rühl
Department of Human Biology, Technical University of Munich, Hochfeldweg 2, D-85350 Freising-Weihenstephan, Germany; ruehl@wzw.tum.de

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Enteric glia regulate gastrointestinal physiology by controlling neurochemical phenotypes in the enteric nervous system

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Keywords: enteric glia; permeability; motility; enteric nervous system; nitric oxide synthase

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a complex network in the gut wall, extending throughout the gastrointestinal tract and coordinating vital gastrointestinal functions, such as motility, perception, mucosal permeability and secretion, blood flow, as well as immune and inflammatory processes.¹ The ENS is connected to the central nervous system (CNS) by sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves which relay information to and from the brain via pre- and paravertebral ganglia, spinal cord, and medulla; yet, it can perfectly function independently of the CNS.

The ENS contains as many neurones as the spinal cord.¹ Enteric neurones have been neurochemically and immunohistochemically classified based on characteristic combinations of neurotransmitters, their synthesising enzymes, and neuronal markers, which ultimately constitute a "neurochemical code" (for review see Kunze and Furness²). Neurochemical coding has provided an important tool to identify functionally distinct neuronal subpopulations, and it is generally assumed that the neurochemical phenotype of differentiated . . . [Full text of this article]

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