Abstract This chapter provides an overview of the current knowledge of neuronal and muscular features of biliary tract motility and its regulation during healthy and pathophysiological conditions. The chapter is…
Abstract The human colon absorbs water and electrolytes stores feces until elimination is socially convenient, and salvages nutrients by bacterial metabolism of nutrients that were not absorbed in the small…
Abstract Enteric neurons and glial cells arise from neural crest cells, most of which emigrate from the caudal hindbrain (“vagal” level) and then migrate into and along the developing gastrointestinal…
Abstract Control of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) is regulated by somatic afferent and efferent nerves from the sacral spinal cord; these are integrated at the spinal cord and brainstem levels…
Abstract The primary function of the gastrointestinal tract is to digest and absorb nutrients. To accomplish this, it must maintain a barrier between the luminal environment, technically a space outside…
Abstract Motility is the process of moving luminal contents through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. However, motility encompasses many complex processes and is influenced by many internal and external factors. While…
Abstract The intestinal barrier is established by a single layer of polarized intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) separating bacteria in the intestinal lumen from the immune cells in the lamina propria….
Abstract The mammalian intestinal tract undergoes dramatic changes during the first few weeks of postnatal life. Genetic and neurohormonal regulators influence the changes in digestive and transport functions that mediate…
Abstract The cell cycle is a process in which a cell first duplicates its genetic information and then divides to give rise to two daughter cells. To avoid mis-segregation of…
Abstract The mechanisms that orchestrate the development of a multicellular organism from a single common ancestor cell have fascinated people for centuries. We are still a long way from truly…
