Intestinal motility regulation by gut glutamatergic interneurons
The gut wall contains complex neural network that controls digestion autonomously.
Although enteric neurons expressing glutamate have been identified and glutamate can affect intestinal motility, the nature of glutamatergic neurons, their position within the ENS circuit, and their function in regulating gut motility are unknown.
The researchers identify two populations of glutamatergic enteric neurons—longitudinal descending interneurons and a previously unreported population of circumferential neurons.
They observe that these VGLUT2+ neurons form synaptic contact with diverse enteric neuronal subtypes and promote the initiation of ex vivo colonic motility.
The authors show that knocking out the glutamate transporter VGLUT2 from enkephalin neurons disrupts gastrointestinal transit and stimulation of glutamatergic neurons initiates colonic propulsive motility.
https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(25)00040-6
https://sciencemission.com/Enteric-glutamatergic-interneurons
