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特立独行的第二脑——肠神经系统

李军华¹, 段睿¹, 李俍², WOOD Jackie D³, 望西玉^1,3,4, 舒友生⁵, 王过渡^1,3,4,*

¹湖北省荆门市第一人民医院消化疾病科，荆门 448000；²北京师范大学认知神经科学与学习国家重点实验室，北京 100875；³俄亥俄州立大学生理和细胞生物系，哥伦布 43210，美国；⁴脑-肠神经系统与疾病研究所，西切斯特 45069，美国；⁵复旦大学脑科学转化研究院，上海 200032

摘要

肠神经系统(enteric nervous system, ENS)由分布在肠壁的黏膜下及肌间两个神经丛组成，能独立地控制和调节胃肠的消化和吸收功能，被称为机体的第二脑(the second brain)或肠脑(gut brain)。ENS相对于中枢神经系统(central nervous system, CNS)，在神经元的性能和环路上有着明显的独特性。ENS和CNS通过交感和副交感神经以及外周初级感觉神经组成反馈环路(脑-肠轴)，影响个体的情绪、食欲和行为等其他功能。肠神经功能异常引起的胃肠功能紊乱不仅导致消化功能异常，还引起内脏痛及情绪和行为异常，如肠易激综合征(irritable bowel syndrome, IBS)，严重影响病人的生活质量。然而，从世界范围来看，对ENS研究的深入程度和投入规模远低于对CNS的研究，在中国尤其如此。回顾ENS的研究历史，一个突出的问题是忽视了ENS的神经元及其神经网络和功能活动的特异性。本文将简介ENS结构和功能，举例重点阐述ENS独有的特性和重要意义，以期使更多的基础和临床研究领域的同仁们加深对ENS独特性的认识，促进ENS和相关疾病研究的进展。

关键词： 肠神经系统; 神经元; 独特性; 胃肠功能; 神经性功能紊乱

分类号：R333

Unique characteristics of “the second brain” – The enteric nervous system

LI Jun-Hua¹, DUAN Rui¹, LI Liang², WOOD Jackie D³, WANG Xi-Yu^1,3,4, SHU Yousheng⁵, WANG Guo-Du^1,3,4,*

¹Department of Gastroenterology, Jingmen First Hospital, Jingmen 448000, China；²State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China；³Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA；⁴Institute of Brain-ENS and Disease Research, West Chester 45069, USA；⁵Institute for Translational Brain Research, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China

Abstract

Enteric nervous system (ENS) is composed of intestinal submucosal and myenteric plexuses. ENS may independently regulate intestinal digestive and absorptive function, and it is also known as “the second brain” or gut brain. ENS has significant specificity relative to central nervous system (CNS) in properties and functional activities of neurons and neural circuits. ENS is connected with CNS through the feedback pathway (brain-gut-axis) of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves and peripheral primary sensory afferent nerves to form the bidirectional brain-gut-axis, which may affect emotion, appetite and behavioral states of individuals. Gastrointestinal functional disorder (GIFD) induced by ENS dysfunction may not only cause abnormal gastrointestinal function but also has been implicated in cognitive and mood disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). GIFD would influence deeply the quality of life in patients. Nevertheless, in the worldwide, ENS has so far received much less attention as compared with CNS. The depth of research and scale of investment in ENS studies have been much lower than those in CNS studies. The situation in China is even more evident. From ENS research history, an outstanding problem is to ignore largely the unique properties of ENS and apply mechanically the hypotheses formed in CNS studies to ENS researches. In this review, the structure and function of ENS are briefly introduced, and the importance of extraordinary characteristics of ENS is illustrated by the problems encountered in our studies. 

Key words: enteric nervous system (ENS); neuron; gastrointestinal function; nervous dysfunction;

收稿日期：2019-09-26　　录用日期：2020-01-02

通讯作者：王过渡　　E-mail: gd53wang@hotmail.com

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2020.0032

引用本文：

李军华, 段睿, 李俍, WOOD Jackie D, 望西玉, 舒友生, 王过渡. 特立独行的第二脑——肠神经系统[J]. 生理学报 2020; 72 (3): 382-390.

LI Jun-Hua, DUAN Rui, LI Liang, WOOD Jackie D, WANG Xi-Yu, SHU Yousheng, WANG Guo-Du. Unique characteristics of “the second brain” – The enteric nervous system. Acta Physiol Sin 2020; 72 (3): 382-390 (in Chinese with English abstract).