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Encyclopedia of Neuroscience pp 1122–1125Cite as

Enteric Nervous System

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Definition

A division of the autonomic nervous system whose component neurons lie within the walls of the digestive organs (esophagus, stomach, intestines, pancreas, gall bladder and pancreato-biliary ducts). The enteric nervous system (ENS) contains entire nerve circuits for digestive organ control, and can function autonomously.

The enteric nervous system is the intrinsic nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract through which gastrointestinal motility, gastrointestinal intramural blood flow and fluid movement across the mucosal lining of the intestine are controlled.

Characteristics

Organization and Relationships

The enteric nervous system is composed of thousands of small ganglia that lie within the walls of the esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines, pancreas, gallbladder and biliary tree, the nerve fibers that connect these ganglia, and nerve fibers that supply the muscle of the gut wall, the mucosal epithelium, arterioles and other effector tissues [1,2,3]. Large...

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References

  1. Furness JB (2006) The enteric nervous system. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 1–274

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  2. Brookes SJH, Costa M (2002) Cellular organisation of the mammalian enteric nervous system. In: Brookes SJH, Costa M (eds) Innervation of the gastrointestinal tract. Taylor and Frances, London, pp 393–467

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  3. Gershon MD (2005) Nerves, reflexes, and the enteric nervous system. J Clin Gastroenterol 38:S184–S193

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  4. Furness JB, Kunze WAA, Clerc N (1999) Nutrient tasting and signaling mechanisms in the gut II. The intestine as a sensory organ: neural, endocrine, and immune responses. Am J Physiol 277:G922–G928

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  7. Spiller R, Grundy D (2004) Pathophysiology of the enteric nervous system, a basis for understanding functional diseases. Blackwell, Oxford

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Centre for Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    John B. Furness

Authors
  1. John B. Furness
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology & Biophysics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Marc D. Binder

  2. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Graduate School of Medicine University of Tokyo Hongo, Bunkyo‐ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Hirokawa

  3. Göttingen, Germany

    Uwe Windhorst

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Furness, J.B. (2009). Enteric Nervous System. In: Binder, M.D., Hirokawa, N., Windhorst, U. (eds) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29678-2_3035

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