Figure - PMC

Skip to main content

An official website of the United States government

Here's how you know

Here's how you know

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

View full-text article in PMC

. 2022 Feb 21;10(2):500. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10020500

Search in PMC
Search in PubMed
View in NLM Catalog
Add to search

© 2022 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

PMC Copyright notice

Innervation of the gut through the enteric nervous system (ENS). Mechanical and chemical sensory information is detected by the intrinsic primary afferent neurons (IPANs). The gut microbiota secretes short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), neurotransmitters, and gaseous factors (e.g., NO). The signal is then transported by ascending (projected orally) and descending (projected anally) interneurons. The signal is transferred to excitatory motor neurons (releasing acetylcholine (Ach) and substance P (SP) to contract the enteric musculature) and inhibitory motor neurons (releasing vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and nitric oxide (NO)) [41]. Created with BioRender.com (accessed on 23 January 2022).