Medicina is published by MDPI from Volume 54 Issue 1 (2018).
Articles in this Issue were published by another publisher in Open Access under a CC-BY (or CC-BY-NC-ND) licence.
Articles are hosted by MDPI on mdpi.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Lithuanian Medical Association, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, and Vilnius University.
Plasticity of vagal afferent signaling in the gut
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48019, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Medicina 2017, 53(2), 73-84; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medici.2017.03.002
Received: 8 March 2017 / Accepted: 21 March 2017 / Published: 10 April 2017
Vagal sensory neurons mediate the vago-vagal reflex which, in turn, regulates a wide array of gastrointestinal functions including esophageal motility, gastric accommodation and pancreatic enzyme secretion. These neurons also transmit sensory information from the gut to the central nervous system, which then mediates the sensations of nausea, fullness and satiety. Recent research indicates that vagal afferent neurons process non-uniform properties and a significant degree of plasticity. These properties are important to ensure that vagally regulated gastrointestinal functions respond rapidly and appropriately to various intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Similar plastic changes in the vagus also occur in pathophysiological conditions, such as obesity and diabetes, resulting in abnormal gastrointestinal functions. A clear understanding of the mechanisms which mediate these events may provide novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders due to vagovagal pathway malfunctions.
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND)
MDPI and ACS Style
Grabauskas, G.; Owyang, C. Plasticity of vagal afferent signaling in the gut. Medicina 2017, 53, 73-84.
Show more citation formats