scholarly journals Neuropod Cells: The Emerging Biology of Gut-Brain Sensory Transduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Maya Kaelberer ◽  
Laura E. Rupprecht ◽  
Winston W. Liu ◽  
Peter Weng ◽  
Diego V. Bohórquez
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Vagus Nerve ◽  
Nutritional Value ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Enteroendocrine Cells ◽  
Sensory Transduction ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Passive Release ◽  
The Brain

Guided by sight, scent, texture, and taste, animals ingest food. Once ingested, it is up to the gut to make sense of the food's nutritional value. Classic sensory systems rely on neuroepithelial circuits to convert stimuli into signals that guide behavior. However, sensation of the gut milieu was thought to be mediated only by the passive release of hormones until the discovery of synapses in enteroendocrine cells. These are gut sensory epithelial cells, and those that form synapses are referred to as neuropod cells. Neuropod cells provide the foundation for the gut to transduce sensory signals from the intestinal milieu to the brain through fast neurotransmission onto neurons, including those of the vagus nerve. These findings have sparked a new field of exploration in sensory neurobiology—that of gut-brain sensory transduction.

scholarly journals A gut-brain neural circuit for nutrient sensory transduction

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 361 (6408) ◽  
pp. eaat5236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Maya Kaelberer ◽  
Kelly L. Buchanan ◽  
Marguerita E. Klein ◽  
Bradley B. Barth ◽  
Marcia M. Montoya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Enteroendocrine Cells ◽  
Sensory Transduction ◽  
Intestinal Lumen ◽  
Excitable Cells ◽  
Enteroendocrine Cell ◽  
Temporal Precision ◽  
Passive Release ◽  
Sensor Cell ◽  
The Brain

The brain is thought to sense gut stimuli only via the passive release of hormones. This is because no connection has been described between the vagus and the putative gut epithelial sensor cell—the enteroendocrine cell. However, these electrically excitable cells contain several features of epithelial transducers. Using a mouse model, we found that enteroendocrine cells synapse with vagal neurons to transduce gut luminal signals in milliseconds by using glutamate as a neurotransmitter. These synaptically connected enteroendocrine cells are referred to henceforth as neuropod cells. The neuroepithelial circuit they form connects the intestinal lumen to the brainstem in one synapse, opening a physical conduit for the brain to sense gut stimuli with the temporal precision and topographical resolution of a synapse.

scholarly journals The brain dynamics of architectural affordances during transition

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakaria Djebbara ◽  
Lars Brorson Fich ◽  
Klaus Gramann
Keyword(s):  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
The Body ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Posterior Cingulate ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Event Related Desynchronization ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Attentional Mechanisms

AbstractAction is a medium of collecting sensory information about the environment, which in turn is shaped by architectural affordances. Affordances characterize the fit between the physical structure of the body and capacities for movement and interaction with the environment, thus relying on sensorimotor processes associated with exploring the surroundings. Central to sensorimotor brain dynamics, the attentional mechanisms directing the gating function of sensory signals share neuronal resources with motor-related processes necessary to inferring the external causes of sensory signals. Such a predictive coding approach suggests that sensorimotor dynamics are sensitive to architectural affordances that support or suppress specific kinds of actions for an individual. However, how architectural affordances relate to the attentional mechanisms underlying the gating function for sensory signals remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that event-related desynchronization of alpha-band oscillations in parieto-occipital and medio-temporal regions covary with the architectural affordances. Source-level time–frequency analysis of data recorded in a motor-priming Mobile Brain/Body Imaging experiment revealed strong event-related desynchronization of the alpha band to originate from the posterior cingulate complex, the parahippocampal region as well as the occipital cortex. Our results firstly contribute to the understanding of how the brain resolves architectural affordances relevant to behaviour. Second, our results indicate that the alpha-band originating from the occipital cortex and parahippocampal region covaries with the architectural affordances before participants interact with the environment, whereas during the interaction, the posterior cingulate cortex and motor areas dynamically reflect the affordable behaviour. We conclude that the sensorimotor dynamics reflect behaviour-relevant features in the designed environment.

scholarly journals Attention controls multisensory perception via 2 distinct mechanisms at different levels of the cortical hierarchy

PLoS Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. e3001465
Author(s):  
Ambra Ferrari ◽  
Uta Noppeney
Keyword(s):  
Causal Inference ◽  
Causal Structure ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Perceptual Inference ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Cortical Hierarchy ◽  
Parietal Cortices ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Different Levels

To form a percept of the multisensory world, the brain needs to integrate signals from common sources weighted by their reliabilities and segregate those from independent sources. Previously, we have shown that anterior parietal cortices combine sensory signals into representations that take into account the signals’ causal structure (i.e., common versus independent sources) and their sensory reliabilities as predicted by Bayesian causal inference. The current study asks to what extent and how attentional mechanisms can actively control how sensory signals are combined for perceptual inference. In a pre- and postcueing paradigm, we presented observers with audiovisual signals at variable spatial disparities. Observers were precued to attend to auditory or visual modalities prior to stimulus presentation and postcued to report their perceived auditory or visual location. Combining psychophysics, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Bayesian modelling, we demonstrate that the brain moulds multisensory inference via 2 distinct mechanisms. Prestimulus attention to vision enhances the reliability and influence of visual inputs on spatial representations in visual and posterior parietal cortices. Poststimulus report determines how parietal cortices flexibly combine sensory estimates into spatial representations consistent with Bayesian causal inference. Our results show that distinct neural mechanisms control how signals are combined for perceptual inference at different levels of the cortical hierarchy.

scholarly journals The Retina: A Window into the Brain

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 3269
Author(s):  
Maurice Ptito ◽  
Maxime Bleau ◽  
Joseph Bouskila
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Systems ◽  
The Brain

In the course of evolution, animals have obtained the capacity to perceive and encode their environment via the development of sensory systems such as touch, olfaction, audition, and vision [...]

scholarly journals Science & the Senses: Perceptions & Deceptions

2012 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 145-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Stansfield
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Cognitive Error ◽  
Biology Textbooks ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Scientific Investigations ◽  
Human Tendency ◽  
Derived Data

Science requires the acquisition and analysis of empirical (sense-derived) data. Given the same physical objects or phenomena, the sense organs of all people do not respond equally to these stimuli, nor do their minds interpret sensory signals identically. Therefore, teachers should develop lectures on human sensory systems that include some common examples of sensory limitations, variations, deficiencies, malfunctions, and diseases (as discussed herein) because they have important implications for conducting scientific investigations, science education, and introspection that are seldom included in biology textbooks. Students need to be made aware of the human tendency to self deception in order to avoid the cognitive error of confirmation bias.

A Few More Thoughts About Feelings

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. (Bud) Craig
Keyword(s):  
Brain Structures ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
The Brain

This concluding chapter addresses some of the larger issues relevant to the ideas presented in this book. These issues include the purpose of feelings, the brain structures required in order to experience feelings and which species have them, the kinds of feelings that other species might experience, why feelings seem to propel behavior, and whether Watson—the computer that won the Jeopardy game—might ever experience feelings. The chapter then examines the concept of graded sentience. This concept seems to provide the basis for graded feelings of interoceptive conditions, depending on the level of refinement of the homeostatic motor and sensory systems.

scholarly journals Dual targeting of folate receptor-expressing glioma tumor-associated macrophages and epithelial cells in the brain using a carbon nanosphere–cationic folate nanoconjugate

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (9) ◽  
pp. 3555-3567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandra Kumar Elechalawar ◽  
Dwaipayan Bhattacharya ◽  
Mohammed Tanveer Ahmed ◽  
Halley Gora ◽  
Kathyayani Sridharan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Folate Receptor ◽  
Tumor Associated Macrophages ◽  
Dual Targeting ◽  
Dual Strategy ◽  
Glioma Tumor ◽  
The Brain

A carbon nanosphere-based dual strategy to target tumor-associated macrophages and tumor cells in glioma lesions within the brain.

scholarly journals Synthesis of transthyretin (pre-albumin) mRNA in choroid plexus epithelial cells, localized by in situ hybridization in rat brain.

1986 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 949-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
A J Stauder ◽  
P W Dickson ◽  
A R Aldred ◽  
G Schreiber ◽  
F A Mendelsohn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
In Situ Hybridization ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Rat Brain ◽  
Choroid Plexus ◽  
Cellular Localization ◽  
Lateral Ventricles ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Albumin Mrna ◽  
Choroid Plexus Epithelial

The sites of synthesis of transthyretin in the brain were investigated using in situ hybridization with [35S]-labeled recombinant cDNA probes specific for transthyretin mRNA. Autoradiography of hybridized coronal sections of rat brain revealed specific cellular localization of transthyretin mRNA in choroid plexus epithelial cells of the lateral, third, and fourth ventricles. Transferrin mRNA was also investigated and, in contrast to transthyretin mRNA, was localized mainly in the lateral ventricles. Our results indicate that substantial synthesis of transthyretin and transferrin mRNA may occur in the choroid plexus.

Microinjection of TRH analogue into the dorsal vagal complex stimulates pancreatic secretion in rats

1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (3) ◽  
pp. G328-G334 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Okumura ◽  
I. L. Taylor ◽  
T. N. Pappas
Keyword(s):  
Vagus Nerve ◽  
Pancreatic Secretion ◽  
Exocrine Secretion ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Dorsal Vagal Complex ◽  
Pancreatic Exocrine Secretion ◽  
Pancreatic Fluid ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies ◽  
Pancreatic Exocrine ◽  
The Brain

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulates pancreatic exocrine secretion through the vagus nerve when injected into rat cerebrospinal fluid. However, little is known about the exact site of action of TRH in the brain to stimulate pancreatic secretion. Recent neuroimmunochemical and neurophysiological studies suggest that TRH could be a neurotransmitter in the dorsal vagal complex, which sends fibers to the pancreas through the vagus nerve. We therefore hypothesized that TRH may act centrally in the dorsal vagal complex to stimulate pancreatic exocrine secretion. To address this question, a TRH analogue, [1-methyl-(S)-4,5-dihydroorotyl]-L-histidyl-L-prolinamide- NH2, was microinjected into the dorsal vagal complex, and basal pancreatic fluid flow and protein secretion were measured in urethan-anesthetized rats. Microinjection of TRH analogue (0.2-2 ng/site) into the dorsal vagal complex significantly stimulated pancreatic flow and protein output in a dose-dependent manner. As a control, microinjection of the TRH analogue into the brain stem outside the vagal complex failed to stimulate pancreatic secretion. Either bilateral subdiaphragmatic vagotomy or atropine abolished the ability of the TRH analogue to stimulate pancreatic secretion. Our data suggest that TRH acts in the dorsal vagal complex to stimulate pancreatic secretion through vagus-dependent and cholinergic pathways. The dorsal vagal complex may play an important role as a central site for control of the exocrine pancreas.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document