Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2020 Nov;17(11):651-652.
doi: 10.1038/s41575-020-0356-y.

Non-canonical cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in IBD

Alan de Araujo  1   2 , Guillaume de Lartigue  3   4
Affiliations
Comment

Non-canonical cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway in IBD

Alan de Araujo et al. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Vagus nerve stimulation has shown promise in treating inflammatory bowel disease. A new study identifies a hepatic vagal branch pathway necessary to maintain colonic immune cell homeostasis in experimental colitis, challenging the dogma that an anti-inflammatory reflex requires an intact spleen and that α7-nicotinic receptor agonists are a panacea for inflammatory conditions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1 |
Fig. 1 |. The common hepatic branch of the vagus nerve increases abundance of colonic regulatory T cells in colitis.
In dextran sodium sulfate-induced colitis, activation of the common hepatic vagal branch by gut-derived proinflammatory products recruit vagal motor neurons to release acetylcholine in the colon. Enteric neurons propagate acetylcholine signalling throughout colon. Activation of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors on colonic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) promotes synthesis and release of retinoic acid, culminating in peripheral regulatory T (pTreg) cell maturation. AP, area postrema; DMV, dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus; NG, nodose ganglion; NTS, nucleus tractus solitarius.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • The liver-brain-gut neural arc maintains the Treg cell niche in the gut.
    Teratani T, Mikami Y, Nakamoto N, Suzuki T, Harada Y, Okabayashi K, Hagihara Y, Taniki N, Kohno K, Shibata S, Miyamoto K, Ishigame H, Chu PS, Sujino T, Suda W, Hattori M, Matsui M, Okada T, Okano H, Inoue M, Yada T, Kitagawa Y, Yoshimura A, Tanida M, Tsuda M, Iwasaki Y, Kanai T. Teratani T, et al. Nature. 2020 Sep;585(7826):591-596. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2425-3. Epub 2020 Jun 11. Nature. 2020. PMID: 32526765

References

    1. de Lartigue G Role of the vagus nerve in the development and treatment of diet-induced obesity. J. Physiol 594, 5791–5815 (2016). - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lei W & Duan Z Advances in the treatment of cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathways in gastrointestinal diseases by electrical stimulation of vagus nerve. Digestion 10.1159/000504474 (2019). - DOI - PubMed
    1. Teratani T et al. The liver–brain–gut neural arc maintains the Treg cell niche in the gut. Nature 10.1038/s41586-020-2425-3 (2020). - DOI - PubMed
    1. Berthoud HR Anatomy and function of sensory hepatic nerves. Anat. Rec. A Discov. Mol. Cell Evol. Biol 280, 827–835 (2004). - PubMed
    1. Chassaing B, Etienne-Mesmin L & Gewirtz AT Microbiota-liver axis in hepatic disease. Hepatology 59, 328–339 (2014). - PMC - PubMed

Publication types