Enteric Glia: S100, GFAP, and Beyond

Enteric Glia Mediate Neuron Death in Colitis

TRANSLATIONAL PHYSIOLOGY Enteric glia and neuroprotection: basic and clinical aspects

Roberto De Giorgio, Fiorella Giancola, Elisa Boschetti, Hind Abdo, Bernard Lardeux, and Michel Neunlist Department of Clinical Medicine and Digestive Diseases and Internal Medicine; and Centro Unificato di Ricerca BioMedica Applicata (C.R.B.A.); and Department of Biochemistry “G. Moruzzi,” University of Bologna, Italy; and Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U913, Universi...

Enteric glia and neuroprotection: basic and clinical aspects.

The enteric nervous system (ENS), a major regulatory system for gastrointestinal function, is composed of neurons and enteric glial cells (EGCs). Enteric glia have long been thought to provide only structural support to neurons. However, recent evidence indicates enteric glia-neuron cross talk significantly contributes to neuronal maintenance, survival, and function. Thus damage to EGCs may tri...

Distribution of enteric glia and GDNF during gut inflammation

BACKGROUND The enteric glia network may be involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Enteric glia cells (EGCs) are the major source of glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), which regulates apoptosis of enterocytes. The aim of the study was to determine the distribution of EGCs and GDNF during gut inflammation and to elucidate a possible diminished enteric glia networ...

Enteric glia are multipotent in culture but primarily form glia in the adult rodent gut.

It is unclear whether neurogenesis occurs in the adult mammalian enteric nervous system (ENS). Neural crest-derived cells capable of forming multilineage colonies in culture, and neurons and glia upon transplantation into chick embryos, persist throughout adult life in the mammalian ENS. In this study we sought to determine the physiological function of these cells. We discovered that these cel...