Slashdot Mirror
Gut-Brain Connection Could Lead To a 'New Sense' (newatlas.com)
A new study has revealed a "fast-acting neural circuit allowing gut cells to communicate with the brain in just seconds," reports New Atlas. Diego Bohorquez, senior author of the study, says "these findings are going to be the biological basis of a new sense. One that serves as the entry point for how the brain knows when the stomach is full of food and calories." He says it "brings legitimacy to [the] idea of the 'gut feeling' as a sixth sense." The study has been published in the journal Science. From the report: Remarkable new work from a team of researchers at Duke University has now revealed a previously unknown direct circuit between the gut and the brain that could allow for fast sensory communication that doesn't relay on laborious hormonal signaling. The research began with a big discovery in 2015 revealing that enteroendocrine cells, the cells in our gut thought to be the primary sensory receptor that communicate with the brain, actually contained nerve endings that seemed like they could directly synaptically communicate with vagal neurons and subsequently, the brain.
The new study first revealed that direct, and near instant, communication occurred between the gut and brain. A mouse was administered with a rabies virus that had been engineered with a green fluorescent tag. Tracing the signal of communication as the gut informed the brain of this virus revealed an immediate response in the vagus nerve. In under 100 milliseconds a single signal was seen to travel from the gut to the brainstem. In order to understand this new neural circuit, the team grew enteroendocrine cells in a lab dish alongside vagal nerve neurons. Not only did these two elements rapidly demonstrate communication, but it was discovered that glutamate, a foundational neurotransmitter, modulated the rate of transmission. What this experiment impressively revealed was that enteroendocrine cells don't solely signal to the brain via hormonal triggers, but also can directly communicate via neural synapses.
The new study first revealed that direct, and near instant, communication occurred between the gut and brain. A mouse was administered with a rabies virus that had been engineered with a green fluorescent tag. Tracing the signal of communication as the gut informed the brain of this virus revealed an immediate response in the vagus nerve. In under 100 milliseconds a single signal was seen to travel from the gut to the brainstem. In order to understand this new neural circuit, the team grew enteroendocrine cells in a lab dish alongside vagal nerve neurons. Not only did these two elements rapidly demonstrate communication, but it was discovered that glutamate, a foundational neurotransmitter, modulated the rate of transmission. What this experiment impressively revealed was that enteroendocrine cells don't solely signal to the brain via hormonal triggers, but also can directly communicate via neural synapses.
Well my gut has shit for brains.
It also has profound implications regarding the manipulation of appetite by the brain.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
My gut sense is tingling!
I want to propagate a meme whereby any time a "new study" is cited, we ask reflexively, "has it been replicated?" Doing so seems to be the only way out of the replication crisis. We, as consumers of pop science, need to demand it.
Philosophistry
the gut being one of the greatest entry points into the body, it should have a fast connection to the brain in case something is not right that a conter-reaction is issues right away.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
I think my gut is full of shit....
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
This has been settled science for years. That glutamate affects the sensory response of the stomach to the introduction of food is not new.
High levels of glutamate in your food will make you feel full faster, causing you to eat less. You're hungry again 1/2 hour later because glutamate dissipates from the body quickly taking the sense of satiety with it.
This is why almost all chinese restaurants are buffet format. Patrons eat less because of all of the MSG.
>"He says it "brings legitimacy to [the] idea of the 'gut feeling' as a sixth sense."
More like the 12th or 16th "sense". I wish the whole "5 senses" thing from thousands of years ago would die already. I mean, anyone who doesn't immediately recognize a sense of balance or temperature or body position (or many others) as a "sense" doesn't understand the concept of sensing the world around them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
So is the true source of Spiderman's spidey-sense the huntsman spider he stuck up his butt?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
It generates it in the first place and in theory could modify it anyway it sees fit. The digestive system doesn't understand appetite - it just understands full, processing, empty and poison. Anything more than that is qualia generated by the brain.
He says it "brings legitimacy to [the] idea of the 'gut feeling' as a sixth sense."
"Gut feeling" and "sixth sense" have nothing to do with physical feelings within the gut. They are more of an intuition type of thing regarding the environment outside the body, not in the abdomen. Geesh.
Gut 6th sense? I see bread, people.
>...it was discovered that glutamate, a foundational neurotransmitter, modulated the rate of transmission.
Possible tie in with MSG headaches? (Wikipedia says double-blind experiments have failed to find a link between MSG and headache's, but I experience the headaches when not expecting them, only to later determine that something I ate a few hours before did in fact contain MSG.)
I think the problems saying MSG aren't linked to headaches is that- quite likely MSG by itself is not responsible for headaches. MSG combined with lots of salt and oil (as is common in Americanised versions of Asian foods) causes headaches. The combination of those three ingredients in high doses is what causes the problem. Way too many people have "Chinese food" reactions for it to be all in the head. I know I always feel crappy after eating Ameicanized Chinese food but I think it's more a combination of things, salt- fat AND MSG. Salt and fat are combined in lots of food- and MSG is added to other foods without causing problems. I think when you OD on all three- that's when you get the "MSG Reaction".
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
People who rely on their "gut feeling" can't distinguish between skipping lunch and a legitimate reason to feel uncomfortable with a situation.
One that serves as the entry point for how the brain knows when the stomach is full of food and calories.
Your stomach can't be full of calories. That's like saying it's full of ounces, or full of liters. It's a unit of measure.
Excuse me while I go yell at clouds.
Nope, no sig
It all becomes clear now.
And Douglas Adams was so close.
But it's not the mice controlling our lives, it's the microbes!!
Tilting outcomes in petridishes all over the world, steering our emotions and hunger.
We are being scrutinised i'm telling you, like someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Oh the irony!
Our gut has a mind immeasurably superior to ours and regard this earth with envious eyes and they slowly and surely are drawing their plans against us!
cue music......
Why are other peoples sig's always more witty ???
The method of Bulverism is to "assume that your opponent is wrong, and explain his error."
This is easily accomplished by misconstruing the original frame. Unless you have an intellectual conscience.
The original five senses were all exo-perceptual.
This was back when no other category had been explicated in specific terms (the ancient Greeks were no dummies and surely suspected interior sensation).
Wikipedia doesn't add a "(film)" clause to movie titles, unless the title already has an established meaning (such as the book upon which the movie was based). But then more pages are added, and sometimes that old film without "(film)" has "(film)" added in retrospect (or eventually "(1998 film)" added in retrospect).
Note that "sixth sense" in its early meanings was usually exo-perceptive: eerie emanations of metaphysical misalignment in the world around you.
Humans don't seem to have magnetic perception. The melanopsin sensors in the retina can't be classified as "vision". However, "sight" is almost viable, so I'm not quick to add this as an entirely separate item.
So what other exo-perceptions might we now add to the archaic list? We've already got the skin, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose on the list. That's the majority of the human periphery. The anus can discriminate gas, liquid, solid. But it's hardly exo unless you're badly prolapsed (I mean your anus, not your argument).
Within its pre-existing category, I really don't think the original five was totally off base.
I have an Einsteinien gut.
Table-ized A.I.
Doing this research must have required a lot of intestinal fortitude.
This would have played so well into "The Colbert Report" for coverage, it's sad to not have the chance.
A new study has revealed a "fast-acting neural circuit allowing gut cells to communicate with the brain in just seconds,"
That's.... not very fast.
I tend to rant.
that takes place before the signals reach the brain so yeah.
>One that serves as the entry point for how the brain knows when the stomach is full of food and calories. I already have an organ I use to determine how many calories I need, my brain. The people too lazy to look up their TDEE and count are either perfectly happy being under/overweight or are delusional about food energy and thermodynamics.
This might be interesting, because, IIRC, Glutamate correlates to the Umami flavour, which is supposed to be savoury-meaty, which in turn would imply probable presence of Proteins, which in turn take longer to digest. So it would make sense that Glutamate sends a signal to the brain saying that the contents might not feel like much, but are good enough to stop eating?