Publications by authors named "J A Kaltschmidt"
Article Synopsis
- Scientists found that certain strong-absorbing molecules can make live animals look clear, like when you see through water.
- They discovered this happens because these molecules change how light travels in the body, making it easier to see inside.
- This research could help find new ways to see inside living creatures for studying biology and medicine better.
The enteric nervous system (ENS) consists of an extensive network of neurons and glial cells embedded within the wall of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Alterations in neuronal distribution and function are strongly associated with GI dysfunction. Current methods for assessing neuronal distribution suffer from undersampling, partly due to challenges associated with imaging and analyzing large tissue areas, and operator bias due to manual analysis.
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- Intrinsic sensory neurons are key components of the enteric nervous system (ENS), influencing gut motility and digestion through their specific properties and markers.
- This study identifies two Type II classic cadherins as new markers for sensory neurons in the mouse colon, confirming their unique morphological and electrophysiological characteristics.
- The research shows that activating these sensory neurons in the distal colon triggers colonic motor complexes, highlighting their essential role in digestive processes.
Background: Spontaneous neuronal network activity is essential to the functional maturation of central and peripheral circuits, yet whether this is a feature of enteric nervous system development has yet to be established. Although enteric neurons are known exhibit electrophysiological properties early in embryonic development, no connection has been drawn between this neuronal activity and the development of gastrointestinal (GI) motility patterns.
Methods: We use ex vivo GI motility assays with newly developed unbiased computational analyses to identify GI motility patterns across mouse embryonic development.
Researchers have advocated elevating mouse housing temperatures from the conventional ~22 °C to the mouse thermoneutral point of 30 °C to enhance translational research. However, the impact of environmental temperature on mouse gastrointestinal physiology remains largely unexplored. Here we show that mice raised at 22 °C exhibit whole gut transit speed nearly twice as fast as those raised at 30 °C, primarily driven by a threefold increase in colon transit speed.
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