title: Gene-environment interactions and the enteric nervous system: Neural plasticity and Hirschsprung disease prevention.
abstract: Intestinal function is primarily controlled by an intrinsic nervous system of the bowel called the enteric nervous system (ENS). The cells of the ENS are neural crest derivatives that migrate into and through the bowel during early stages of organogenesis before differentiating into a wide variety of neurons and glia. Although genetic factors critically underlie ENS development, it is now clear that many non-genetic factors may influence the number of enteric neurons, types of enteric neurons, and ratio of neurons to glia. These non-genetic influences include dietary nutrients and medicines that may impact ENS structure and function before or after birth. This review summarizes current data about gene-environment interactions that affect ENS development and suggests that these factors may contribute to human intestinal motility disorders like Hirschsprung disease or irritable bowel syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, USA; The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Abramson Research Center, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: heuckerothr@email.chop.edu.
authors.forename: Robert O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Heuckeroth
authors.affiliation: ENS Group, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern/Zweibrücken, Germany; University of Heidelberg, Paediatric Surgery Mannheim, Germany.
authors.forename: Karl-Herbert
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Schäfer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D017615:Enteric Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000294:innervation*; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D006627:Hirschsprung Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000473:pathology; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000166:cytology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*