Bold R J, Ishizuka J, Townsend C M, Thompson J C
University of California-Davis, East Bay.
Arch Surg. 1993 Nov;128(11):1268-73. doi: 10.1001/archsurg.1993.01420230096015.
Gastrointestinal hormones are chemical messengers that regulate a broad range of physiologic functions. Although primarily expressed within tissues of the gut, these peptide hormones are widely distributed throughout the body and act on multiple target tissues. Furthermore, these regulatory peptides can exist in multiple molecular forms that may bind to multiple cell-surface receptors coupled to one of several possible signal transduction systems leading to diverse biologic responses. With such an expansive field to study, it is not surprising that gut endocrinologists have embraced the new techniques that are emerging from the revolution of molecular biology. Beginning with the first construction of a recombinant DNA molecule by Paul Berg in 1971, molecular biology has developed many new techniques that have been rapidly adopted by gut endocrinologists to enable a more detailed understanding of gastrointestinal function. The merging of these two fields has led to a new area of research, molecular gut endocrinology, or the study of gut physiology and endocrinology at the level of individual molecules (ranging from polypeptide-surface receptors to small-molecule second messengers to DNA sequences). Gut cells are constantly bombarded by numerous hormones, and the tightly regulated physiologic status of each cell is becoming more clearly understood.
胃肠激素是调节多种生理功能的化学信使。尽管这些肽类激素主要在肠道组织中表达，但它们广泛分布于全身，并作用于多个靶组织。此外，这些调节肽可以以多种分子形式存在，可能与多种细胞表面受体结合，这些受体与几种可能的信号转导系统之一偶联，从而导致多种生物学反应。由于有如此广阔的研究领域，胃肠内分泌学家欣然接受分子生物学革命中涌现的新技术也就不足为奇了。从1971年保罗·伯格首次构建重组DNA分子开始，分子生物学已经开发出许多新技术，胃肠内分泌学家迅速采用这些技术，以便更详细地了解胃肠功能。这两个领域的融合催生了一个新的研究领域——分子胃肠内分泌学，即从单个分子层面（从多肽表面受体到小分子第二信使再到DNA序列）研究肠道生理学和内分泌学。肠道细胞不断受到多种激素的轰击，每个细胞严格调控的生理状态正变得越来越清晰。
