Development of a functional Enteric Nervous System

Summary Our major research interests are the neural mechanisms and circuits that control intestinal motor functions underlying the digestive process, including both muscle movement and the secretion of water and salt by the mucosa, and how these are disturbed by bacterial toxins. This work involves experimental methods ranging from electrophysiological analysis of synaptic transmission in reflex pathways, to immunohistochemical analysis of enteric neural circuits, to measurements of intestinal movements and secretions both in vitro and in vivo and computer simulation of the networks of neurons that mediate these functions. Much of this work, especially that involving interactions between intestinal movements and secretion, is carried out in close collaboration with Dr Tor Savidge of Baylor College of Medicine in Texas. Other international collaborations include a consortium led by Professor Marthe Howard (University of Toledo, Ohio) and funded by NIH whose goal is a predictive anatomical map of the enteric nervous system.

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