Sharkey K A, Kroese A B
Neuroscience and Gastrointestinal Research Groups, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1.
Anat Rec. 2001 Jan 1;262(1):79-90. doi: 10.1002/1097-0185(20010101)262:1<79::AID-AR1013>3.0.CO;2-K.
The ENS is responsible for the regulation and control of all gastrointestinal functions. Because of this critical role, and probably as a consequence of its remarkable plasticity, the ENS is often relatively well preserved in conditions where the architecture of the intestine is seriously disrupted, such as in IBD. There are structural and functional changes in the enteric innervation in animal models of experimental intestinal inflammation and in IBD. These include both up and down regulation of transmitter expression and the induction of new genes in enteric neurons. Using Fos expression as a surrogate marker of neuronal activation it is now well established that enteric neurons (and also enteric glia) respond to inflammation. Whether this "activation" is limited to a short-term functional response, such as increased neuronal excitability, or reflects a long-term change in some aspect of the neuronal phenotype (or both) has yet to be firmly established, but it appears that enteric neurons are highly plastic in their response to inflammation.
肠神经系统负责调节和控制所有胃肠道功能。由于这一关键作用，或许也因其显著的可塑性，在肠道结构严重破坏的情况下，如在炎症性肠病中，肠神经系统通常相对保存完好。在实验性肠道炎症的动物模型以及炎症性肠病中，肠内神经支配存在结构和功能变化。这些变化包括神经递质表达的上调和下调，以及肠神经元中新基因的诱导。以Fos表达作为神经元激活的替代标志物，现已明确肠神经元（以及肠神经胶质细胞）对炎症有反应。这种“激活”是仅限于短期功能反应，如神经元兴奋性增加，还是反映了神经元表型某些方面的长期变化（或两者皆有），尚未得到确凿证实，但似乎肠神经元对炎症的反应具有高度可塑性。
