This symposium will focus on the enteric nervous system (ENS) and its ability to adapt at molecular, cellular, and electrophysiological level in response to internal and external stimuli, including molecular cell-cell signaling and microbiome-host interactions. The undiscovered country of ENS plasticity is a key to understanding the autonomic regulatory mechanisms that are the basis of the gut-brain axis.
P. Neckel will give an introduction of ENS anatomy and neurogenesis in the maturating and aging gut with special emphasis on cell-cell and cell-matrix communication systems, such as Wnt/Fzd signaling.
M. Scharr will elucidate the role of the Wnt-regulator R-Spondin1 in regulating murine and human ENS progenitor cells.
N. Bondurand will focus on transcriptional control of ENS development using cellular and mice models, as well as patient cohorts presenting Hirschsprung’s disease. She will also give insights on post-transcriptional modifications and the role of A-to-I RNA editing in various neural crest derivatives including Schwann cells and the ENS.
G. Mazzuoli-Weber will talk about ENS physiology, especially sensory stimuli in the ENS with focus on chemo- and mechanosensitivity. She will discuss how enteric neurons are able to reshape their structural and functional properties to maintain the homeostasis of gut function in age and disease.
M. L. DeMaegd will give insights into the role of neuropeptides on the temperature-dependent modulation of rhythmic activation in the stomatogastric ganglion of decapods.
W. Boesmans will focus on adaptive changes in ENS histo-architecture and in the expression of transcription factors in ENS neurons and glia. He will also discuss the influence of diets and microbiota on the neuronal control and motility of the intestine.
The symposium will comprise state of the art research in a highly interdisciplinary but often under-represented field of neuroscience. Join us when we rush into the field of neurogastroenterology, where other neuroscientists fear to tread. Explore the undiscovered country.

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