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enteric nervous system

·August 15, 2025·4 min read

Gut Neurons Direct Immune Healing After Inflammation

Researchers have discovered that neurons in the gut play a direct role in guiding immune healing after inflammation by producing a molecule called adrenomedullin 2 (ADM2). This molecule stimulates group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) to release amphiregulin, a tissue-repairing factor, offering protection in models of inflammatory bowel disease.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 29, 2024·4 min read

Opioid Receptors Key to Gut Nervous System Development

Researchers discovered a new role for opioid receptors in the development of the enteric nervous system (ENS), the "brain in the gut." This finding challenges the conventional understanding of opioid receptors, highlighting their significance beyond pain management and addiction.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 11, 2023·6 min read

Rethinking the Gut’s Neurons: Newly Discovered Neurons Upend Established Theory

Previously, scientists believed that the enteric nervous system (ENS) development stopped before birth. However, recent findings overturn this by showing ENS development continues after birth in mice and humans.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·June 6, 2023·4 min read

Progesterone’s Protective Role Against Parkinson’s in the Enteric Nervous System

Recent research illustrates a protective effect of progesterone on the enteric nervous system (ENS), often referred to as the body's "second brain". The study demonstrated that nerve cells treated with progesterone were more resistant to conditions simulating Parkinson's disease.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 9, 2022·2 min read

Antibiotics Given in Infancy May Have Adverse Impact on Adult Gut Health

Early life exposure to antibiotics has a long-lasting effect on the enteric nervous system, microbiome, and gut function.

This shows a cross section of a mouse gut

Featured Neuroscience

·October 20, 2021·3 min read

Glial Cells Crucial to Maintaining Healthy Gut Immunity

Glial cells coordinate immune responses in the gut following infection. Researchers report glial cells could be targets for therapeutics to treat inflammatory bowel disorders.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 1, 2021·5 min read

Revealing the Logic of the Body’s Second Brain

Findings shed new light on the gut's enteric nervous system, offering hope for treatments for a range of disorders.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·August 10, 2021·3 min read

New Insights Into How the ‘First Brain’ Works in the Gut

Study highlights how the enteric nervous system acts similarly to neural networks in the brain and spinal cord.

This shows a breakdown of the human body

Featured Neuroscience

·December 7, 2020·4 min read

New Fundamental Knowledge of the ‘Abdominal Brain’

Neural mapping of the enteric nervous system reveals how fetal neurons form during development. The process of neural development in the ENT follows different principal to the development of neurons in the brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 25, 2020·4 min read

Rely on Gut Feeling? How the Second Brain in Gut Communicates

Viscerofugal neurons inside the gut wall communicate to other neurons outside of the gut, near the spinal cord, to send messages to the brain.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·February 18, 2020·5 min read

Parkinson’s biomarker may originate in gut

Using mouse models, researchers seeded alpha-synuclein aggregates in gut neurons and discovered the clumps can travel to neurons in the brain.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 14, 2019·4 min read

Targeting alpha-synuclein in the gut may slow down Parkinson’s disease

Scientists are conducting experiments to see if targeting the enteric nervous system with a compound can inhibit the aggregation of alpha-synuclein and slow the progression of Parkinson's disease.

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enteric nervous system

Gut Neurons Direct Immune Healing After Inflammation

Opioid Receptors Key to Gut Nervous System Development

Rethinking the Gut’s Neurons: Newly Discovered Neurons Upend Established Theory

Progesterone’s Protective Role Against Parkinson’s in the Enteric Nervous System

Antibiotics Given in Infancy May Have Adverse Impact on Adult Gut Health

Glial Cells Crucial to Maintaining Healthy Gut Immunity

Revealing the Logic of the Body’s Second Brain

New Insights Into How the ‘First Brain’ Works in the Gut

New Fundamental Knowledge of the ‘Abdominal Brain’

Rely on Gut Feeling? How the Second Brain in Gut Communicates

Parkinson’s biomarker may originate in gut

Targeting alpha-synuclein in the gut may slow down Parkinson’s disease

Compulsivity is Driven by a Fear of the Unknown

Chronic Inflammation Rewires the Brain’s Cognitive Center

Silent Recall: Your Brain Remembers Even When You Forget

Little-Known Cells May Be Key to Clearing Alzheimer’s Proteins

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