The Enteric Nervous System (ENS)

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is now well recognized by gastroenterologists and gastrointestinal physiologists alike as the “brain in the gut.” This is because it controls gut function, including motility, secretion, absorption, blood flow, and aspects of the local immune system.

Bayliss and Starling, at the end of the 19th century, provided the first accurate description of gut peristalsis and “the law of the intestine”, which led to the concept that intestinal peristalsis depends on the neural reflex circuitry located within the gut wall. In the last 30 years, many studies using innovative combinations of methodological approaches have allowed enteric neurobiologists to unravel the complexity of the finely integrated neuronal network in the gut and its projections to the biliary tract and pancreas (see reviews5–8). This new understanding of the intrinsic innervation of the digestive system expands the early observations of Bayliss and Starling and suggests that the brain-in-the-gut closely resembles the structure and function of the central nervous system (CNS).

Source: Inflammatory neuropathies of the Enteric Nervous System by: Giorgio et al., 2004