Enteric neurons synthesize netrins and are essential for the development of the vagal sensory innervation of the fetal gut.

ABSTRACT: During fetal life, vagal sensory fibers establish a reproducible distribution in the gut that includes an association with myenteric ganglia. Previous work has shown that netrin is expressed in the bowel wall and, by acting on its receptor, deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC), mediates the guidance of vagal sensory axons to the developing gut. Because the highest concentration of netrins in fetal bowel is in the endoderm, we tested the hypothesis that the ingrowth of vagal afferents to the gut would be independent of the presence of enteric neurons, although enteric neurons might influence the internal distribution of these fibers. Surprisingly, experiments indicated that the vagal sensory innervation is intrinsic neuron-dependent. To examine the vagal innervation in the absence of enteric

SUBMITTER: Ratcliffe EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3160128 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature