By Rachel Wade , Writer
Harvard Medical School have recently revealed that in a recent study of salmonella bacteria, neurons in the gut can not only detect the presence of these bacteria, but also fight against them.
Harvard Medical School have recently revealed that in a recent study of salmonella bacteria, neurons in the gut can not only detect the presence of these bacteria, but also fight against them.
The results not only prove that our nervous system is incredibly intellectual, yet also proves there are thousands of functions of our body we are yet to investigate and discover. Nerve cells in the gut have been proven to help with immunity against infections, and allows maintenance in homeostasis of the gut.
Conducted on mice, the research uncovered the following:
In the small intestine, the salmonella bacteria become present in Peyer’s Patches (a lymphatic tissue structure which monitors intestinal bacteria populations in the small intestine). Right below the Peyer’s Patch is the gut neuron.
The salmonella go through Peyer’s Patch by invading M cells (they transport antigens from the lumen to cells of the immune system, thus beginning an immune response)
Then, the gut neuron senses and detects the presence of salmonella through the M cells, therefore sending pain signals to the brain.
This process then stimulates the release of CGRP (Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide, a form of protein), which allows a decrease of M cells. Hence, the salmonella bacteria do not have as many pathways to invade and infect.
CGRP not only helps prevent the invasion of salmonella, but also increases the amount of SFB microbes (Segmented Filamentous Bacteria) that help bring about immune responses in mice and form a protective layer on Peyer’s Patch to help keep the salmonella out.
A simple step-by-step explanation does not rise to the level of complexity in functions of the nervous system.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the nervous system interacts directly with infectious organisms in various ways to affect immunity,” Isaac Chiu (lead investigator) said. “Bacteria literally do get on our nerves.”
Thousands of new discoveries are being concluded every day. For example, from 17th December 2019, Harvard Gazelle also published an article from Massachusetts General Hospital scientists developing new ways of detecting Alzheimer’s early. The team produced a software-based method of scanning electronic health records (EHRs) to calculate approximately the risk that someone without health conditions will receive a dementia diagnosis in the future “up to eight years in advance”. From November 19th 2019, there was new evidence in mice that childhood asthma is influenced by the neurotransmitter, dopamine. It was reported that dopamine communicates with T cells to increase allergic inflammation in the lungs of young mice but not older mice.
Evidently, many more exciting discoveries and developments are awaiting to be revealed. Conducted research such as these allow us to expand our knowledge beyond expectations, and understand the complexity of human development.
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