Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 16;15(1):8123. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52397-0.
The vagus nerve (VN) extensively innervates the gastric enteric nervous system (ENS), but its influence on gastric ENS functionality and motility in vivo remains unclear due to technical challenges. Here we describe a method for stable, long-term observation of gastric ENS activity and muscle dynamics at cellular resolution, which can also be extended to intestinal applications. This method involves ENS-specific labeling and the implantation of an abdominal wall window for optical recording in male mice. In vivo calcium imaging reveals a linear relationship between vagal stimulation frequency and myenteric neuron activation in gastric antrum. Furthermore, the motility of gastric antrum is significantly enhanced and shows a positive correlation with the intensity and number of activated myenteric neurons. While vagal stimulation also activates proximal colonic myenteric neurons, this activation is not frequency-dependent and does not induce proximal colonic motility. The method and results provide important insights into VN-ENS interactions in vivo, advancing our understanding of gastrointestinal motility regulation.
迷走神经（VN）广泛支配胃肠神经系统（ENS），但其对胃 ENS 功能和体内运动的影响由于技术挑战仍不清楚。本文描述了一种稳定、长期观察胃 ENS 活动和肌肉动力学的方法，该方法也可扩展到肠道应用。该方法涉及 ENS 特异性标记和腹壁窗口植入，用于雄性小鼠的光学记录。体内钙成像显示迷走神经刺激频率与胃窦区肌间神经元激活之间存在线性关系。此外，胃窦区的运动明显增强，与激活的肌间神经元的强度和数量呈正相关。虽然迷走神经刺激也激活近端结肠肌间神经元，但这种激活不是频率依赖性的，也不会引起近端结肠运动。该方法和结果提供了对体内 VN-ENS 相互作用的重要见解，促进了我们对胃肠道运动调节的理解。
