The importance of gastrointestinal motility and gut perception in medicine has been long recognized. Physiologically, these key functions ensure normal unperceived feeding and digestion, crucial aspects of health and wellbeing. Conversely, pathophysiological disturbances may produce digestive symptoms, which are common in the general population and may range from the simply annoying to the inca...

The alimentary tract at birth is either sterile or contains only a few micro-organisms (Wilson and Miles, 1955). Within a few days of birth a profuse flora is established in the mouth and large intestine. However, the small intestine remains relatively free from micro-organisms throughout life (Cregan and Hayward, 1953; Anderson and Langford, 1958a). Thus in health it seems that some antibacter...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cannabidiol is a Cannabis-derived non-psychotropic compound that exerts a plethora of pharmacological actions, including anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and antitumour effects, with potential therapeutic interest. However, the actions of cannabidiol in the digestive tract are largely unexplored. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cannabidiol on intesti...

Communication between nerves and immune and inflammatory cells of the small and large intestine plays a major role in the modulation of several intestinal functions, including intestinal motility, ion transport, and mucosal permeability. Neuroimmune interactions at intestinal sites have been associated with the pathophysiology of infectious and enterotoxin-mediated diarrhea and intestinal infla...

Patients with functional gut disorders, irritable bowel disease, and related syndromes frequently attribute their symptoms to intestinal gas. While patients are usually convinced of their interpretation, the doctor has few arguments to confirm or refute it, and in this context intestinal gas has become a myth. Studies of intestinal gas dynamics have demonstrated subtle dysfunctions in intestina...

OBJECTIVES Attachment to the small intestinal mucosa is crucial for initiating and maintaining Giardia infection. We tested the effect of isoflavones on Giardia attachment. METHODS We evaluated the effect of formononetin on trophozoite attachment to glass, to intestinal epithelial cell layers in vitro and to murine small intestinal explants, and on the intestinal load in mice. RESULTS We fo...

The role of enteric glia in gastrointestinal physiology remains largely unexplored. We examined the actions of the gliotoxin fluorocitrate (FC) on intestinal motility, secretion, and inflammation after assessing its efficacy and specificity in vitro. FC (100 microM) caused a significant decrease in the phosphorylation of the glucose analog 2-[N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diaz-4-yl)amino]-2-deoxyglu...

Some Eubacterium and Roseburia species are among the most prevalent motile bacteria present in the intestinal microbiota of healthy adults. These flagellate species contribute "cell motility" category genes to the intestinal microbiome and flagellin proteins to the intestinal proteome. We reviewed and revised the annotation of motility genes in the genomes of six Eubacterium and Roseburia speci...

Patients with colonic inertia, the most severe form of chronic functional constipation, may present with a more diffuse panenteric motility disorder. We describe a case of a woman with severe longstanding colonic inertia associated with chronic functional dyspepsia and defective gastric, gallbladder and small intestinal motility, as confirmed by several diagnostic tests including two breath tes...

BACKGROUND The main symptom of postoperative ileus (POI) is an intestinal motility disorder in which monocytes/macrophages and neutrophils play crucial roles. Prokinetic 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 receptor (5-HT₄R) agonists and dopamine receptor antagonists are potential therapeutic agents for directly ameliorating the motility disorder associated with POI. AIM To determine the effects of the 5-HT...