A full-thickness biopsy of the bowel wall is required to evaluate the enteric nervous system. A patient with aggravating gastrointestinal symptoms underwent a laparoscopic full-thickness biopsy of the ileum and, 1 year later, an endoscopic full-thickness biopsy of the sigmoid colon. Both samples showed enteric neuropathy characterized by vacuolated and enlarged neurons. The length of the myente...

Enteric fever is a common infectious disease of the tropical world. Characteristic presenting features include fever, relative bradycardia, diarrhea or constipation, and abdominal pain. Central nervous system involvement is not rare and has a wide spectrum of presentation in enteric fever. Complications such as meningism, delirium, coma, and convulsions have been reported often. However, isolat...

To clarify the role of Ret signaling components in enteric nervous system (ENS) development, we evaluated ENS anatomy and intestinal contractility in mice heterozygous for Ret, GFRalpha1 and Ret ligands. These analyses demonstrate that glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurturin are important for different aspects of ENS development. Neurturin is essential for maintaining t...

Chronic constipation is still considered a functional or idiopathic disorder. However, in recent years there is evidence that its pathopysiological grounds may be actually due to a complex system of abnormalities of the enteric nervous system of these patients. In particular, as reported in this review, the enteric glial cells seem to be constantly involved in constipated patients, suggesting t...

Stem cell therapies seem to be an appropriate tool for the treatment of a variety of diseases, especially when a substantial cell loss leads to a severe clinical impact. This is the case in most neuronal cell losses. Unfortunately, adequate neural stem cell sources are hard to find and current alternatives, such as induced programmed stem cells, still have incalculable risks. Evidence of neurog...

Recent research has shown that the amino acid glutamine can positively affect gut health by supporting microbiome, mucosal wall integrity, and modulating inflammatory responses. As modulated vagus nerve, via enteric nervous system, gut-brain connection impact brain's neurochemical environment. Poor disrupt balance of neurotransmitters, which result in neuropsychiatric based conditions such as d...

All developing organs need to be connected to both the nervous system (for sensory and motor control) as well as the vascular system (for gas exchange, fluid and nutrient supply). Consequently both the nervous and vascular systems develop alongside each other and share striking similarities in their branching architecture. Here we report embryonic manipulations that allow us to study the simult...