Mucosal Restitution and Repair
Abstract The mammalian intestinal epithelium serves as a critical barrier between the host organism and the contents of the gut, providing for regulated uptake of food and fluid as well…
Microbial Physiology of the Digestive Tract and Its Role in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Abstract Microbes are essential for the health and normal functions of the gastrointestinal tract. However, gut microbes have also been implicated in the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In…
Extrinsic Sensory Afferent Nerves Innervating the Gastrointestinal Tract in Health and Disease
Abstract Our gastrointestinal tract is innervated by specific classes of extrinsic sensory afferents, which follow either vagal or spinal pathways. Vagal afferents have cell bodies located within the nodose or…
Diet Effects on Gut Microbiome Composition, Function, and Host Physiology
Abstract The gut microbial community acts as a vector for mediating effects of diet on host physiology. Recent advances in the next-generation sequencing and mass spectrometry along with translatable animal…
Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Immune Development During Early Life
Abstract The postnatal period represents a crucial time for the developing mucosal immune system that coincides with early life colonization of the host by microbial pioneers and initial exposure to…
The Physiology and Pathophysiology of Interstitial Cells of Cajal: Pacemaking, Innervation, and Stretch Sensation
Abstract Interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) are part of the control system that orchestrates and regulates a diverse set of motor patterns in all parts of the gut to facilitate…
Enteric Nervous System: Brain-in-the-Gut
Abstract The enteric nervous system (ENS) is an independent “brain-in-the-gut” that integrates gastrointestinal motility, secretion, and blood flow into homeostatic patterns of gut behavior that have susceptibility to becoming clinically…
Brain Processing of Gastrointestinal Sensory Signaling
Abstract Visceral information reaches the brain through a diverse array of neural, humoral, and immune pathways, conveying an abundance of ascending visceral information that helps to maintain homeostasis within the…
Enteric Neural Regulation of Mucosal Secretion
Abstract Secretion and absorption of water and salt are essential for digestion, absorption of food, and the mucosal barrier that separates gut microbes from the rest of the body. It…
Neuroimaging of Brain-Gut Interactions in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders
Abstract While a variety of peripheral candidate biomarkers related to functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) continue to be investigated, none appear to account for a large proportion of the symptom variance…
