Hypocretins (orexins) are wake-promoting neuropeptides produced by hypothalamic neurons. These hypocretin-producing cells are lost in people with narcolepsy, possibly due to an autoimmune attack. Prior studies described hypocretin neurons in the enteric nervous system, and these cells could be an additional target of an autoimmune process. We sought to determine whether enteric hypocretin neurons are lost in narcoleptic subjects. Even though we tried several methods (including whole mounts, sectioned tissue, pre-treatment of mice with colchicine, and the use of various primary antisera), we could not identify hypocretin-producing cells in enteric nervous tissue collected from mice or normal human subjects. These results raise doubts about whether enteric neurons produce hypocretin.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2276606 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regpep.2007.11.006 | DOI Listing |
Stem Cell Res Ther
January 2025
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China.
Background: Understanding how enteric neural crest cells (ENCCs) differentiate into neurons is crucial for neurogenesis therapy and gastrointestinal disease research. This study explores how magnesium ions regulate the glycolytic pathway to enhance ENCCs differentiation into neurons.
Materials And Methods: We used polymerase chain reaction, western blot, immunofluorescence, and multielectrode array techniques to assess magnesium ions' impact on ENCCs differentiation.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf
January 2025
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, China; Department of Pediatric Surgery, Guizhou Children Hospital, Zunyi, Guizhou 563000, China. Electronic address:
Nonylphenol (NP), a ubiquitous environmental contaminant used as a surfactant in industrial production and classified as an endocrine disruptor, could interfere hormone secretion and exhibit neurotoxicity in organisms. Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR), one of the most frequently observed congenital malformations of the digestive system, arises mainly due to the failure of enteric neural crest cells to migrate to the distal colon during embryonic development. However, the effects of NP exposure on HSCR are largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Stress affects gastrointestinal (GI) function causing dysmotility, especially in patients. GI motility is regulated by the enteric nervous system (ENS), suggesting that stress alters ENS biology to cause dysmotility. While stress increases glucocorticoid levels through the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, how glucocorticoids affect GI motility is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol
January 2025
Dept of Physiology & Cell Biology, University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine, Reno, NV. Electronic address:
Background And Aims: Gastrointestinal motility persists when peripheral cholinergic signaling is blocked genetically or pharmacologically, and a recent study suggests nitric oxide drives propagating neurogenic contractions.
Methods: To determine the neuronal substrates that underlie these contractions, we measured contractile-associated movements together with calcium responses of cholinergic or nitrergic myenteric neurons in un-paralyzed ex vivo preparations of whole mouse colon. We chose to look at these two subpopulations because they encompass nearly all myenteric neurons.
Sci Transl Med
January 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Children with neurodegenerative disease often have debilitating gastrointestinal symptoms. We hypothesized that this may be due at least in part to underappreciated degeneration of neurons in the enteric nervous system (ENS), the master regulator of bowel function. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated mouse models of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis type 1 and 2 (CLN1 and CLN2 disease, respectively), neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorders caused by deficiencies in palmitoyl protein thioesterase-1 and tripeptidyl peptidase-1, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!