Mouse intestineWIKIMEDIA, KELVINH88The intestine tells the brain about the contents of the gut. But insights into the molecular mechanics of this gut-brain conversation have been stalled by technical limitations. Now, examinations of a key type of gut sensory cell within mouse intestinal organoids and tissue sections have revealed which molecular signals activate these so-called enterochromaffin cells, and how the cells relay the compounds’ presence to the central nervous system. The findings are reported today (June 22) in Cell.
“It really is stellar work,” says anatomist and neuroscientist John Cryan of University College Cork in Ireland who was not involved in the work. “It’s asking a big question, and using state of the art tools [to find answers] . . . It’s a tour de force.”
The big question to which Cryan refers is, what is the function of enterochromaffin cells? “We’ve known that these cells are really important but we’ve lacked the tools to study them,” he says, “They’ve been a real black box.”
Enterochromaffin cells are a type of intestinal epithelial endocrine cell. They are very rare—making up less than one percent of the intestinal epithelia—and yet are responsible for the production of 90 percent of the body’s serotonin. It has been ...
