New insights into how the colon functions and actually expels its contents have been revealed for the first time following decades of study by Flinders University researchers.<\/p>\n
It promises new diagnostics tools and treatments for gastrointestinal disorders to address problems with bowel movements leading to constipation, diarrhoea and pain, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n
Propulsion of intestinal contents is controlled by millions of neurons within the wall of the gut, known as the enteric nervous system. Capable of operating independently of the brain, a functioning enteric nervous system is essential for life \u2013 but exactly how it functions has been a mystery.<\/p>\n
By unravelling the neural circuits of the enteric nervous system in guinea pigs and humans Professor Marcello Costa and colleagues are able to understand how the enteric nervous system ensures that food is slowly mixed and propelled along the digestive tube, allowing for absorption of nutrients and excretion of waste.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time we have combined video recording intestinal movements with a pressure-measuring manometric probe, enabling movements, pressures and electrical activities to be recorded all at the same time within the colon. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis powerful combination of techniques applied to a guinea pig colon identified several distinct neural mechanisms involved in the propulsion of colonic contents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis answers the deceptively simple question of how neural mechanisms within the colon manage the propulsion of bowel contents\u201d Professor Costa says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe findings also show how studies in human and animals can be complementary, identifying fundamental mechanisms that are shared across species \u2013 in this case guinea pigs and humans.
\u201cCurrently we treat intestinal disorders by addressing the symptoms, such a stopping-up diarrhoea or softening stools to ease constipation, but as a result of this new understanding of the neural networks of the enteric system, clinicians may be able to develop treatments that treat the cause of the problems\u201d Professor Costa says.<\/p>\n
Scimex\nwww.scimex.org\/newsfeed\/cracking-the-colon-code-new-light-shed-on-gut-function<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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