title: Enhancement of CGRP sensory afferent innervation in the gut during the development of food allergy in an experimental murine model.
abstract: Recent advances in neuroscience and immunology have revealed a bidirectional interaction between the nervous and immune systems. Therefore, the gastrointestinal tract may be modulated by neuro-immune interactions, but little information about this interaction is available. Intrinsic and extrinsic primary afferent neurons play an important role in this interaction because of their abilities to sense, process and transmit various information in the intestinal microenvironment. Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is exclusively contained in intrinsic and extrinsic primary afferent neurons in the mouse intestine. Therefore, we investigated CGRP-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the colonic mucosa of mice induced to develop food allergy. CGRP-immunoreactive nerve fibers were specifically increased with the development of food allergy, and the fibers were juxtaposed to mucosal mast cells in the colonic mucosa of food allergy mice. Denervation of the extrinsic afferent neurons using neonatal capsaicin treatment did not affect the development of food allergy or the density and distribution of CGRP-immunoreactive nerve fibers in the colonic mucosa of food allergy mice. Furthermore, the mRNA and plasma level of CGRP was increased in food allergy mice. These results suggest that the activation of intrinsic primary afferent neurons in the intestine contributes to the development and pathology of food allergy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology, Institute of Natural Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.
authors.forename: Jaemin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Shusaku
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kuramoto
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kadowaki
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways; D000818:Animals; D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide / Q000378:metabolism*; D002211:Capsaicin / Q000494:pharmacology; D003106:Colon / Q000187:drug effects / Q000294:innervation*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015740:Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide; D002211:Capsaicin