Properties and Electro-Physiology of the Intrinsic Nervous System

肠道含有数量非常多的神经细胞，这些神经细胞在功能上分为几个不同的群。我们几乎已经确定了豚鼠小肠中的所有这些功能基团，并开始分析不同基团之间的交流方式。我们已经开发了方法来识别我们记录的任何神经细胞的功能，还开发了专门刺激接触它们的单个功能类别的神经细胞的新方法。这项拟议研究的目的是利用这些方法来识别特定类型的神经细胞在肠道正常行为期间向其他神经细胞传递信息所使用的化学物质。我们将记录单个神经细胞在肠壁中的行为，同时刺激与它们接触的特定神经路径。然后，我们将使用药物来阻断感兴趣的化学物质(称为速激肽的小蛋白和某些胺化合物)的活性，试图阻止相关神经细胞之间的信息传输。确定肠道中不同神经细胞功能群之间特定连接处使用的化学物质的性质，将有助于设计出副作用最小的治疗胃肠道疾病的药物。此外，由于在肠道中用于交流的化学物质也在大脑中发现，结果将为这些化学物质在神经系统其他地方的功能提供证据。

The gut contains a very large number of nerve cells which fall into several functionally distinct groups. We have identified virtually all these functional groups in the guinea-pig small intestine and have begun an analysis of the ways the different groups communicate with each other. We have developed methods to identify the functions of any nerve cell from which we record and have also developed novel methods for specifically stimulating individual functional classes of nerve cells that contact them. The aim of the proposed research is to exploit these methods to identify the chemicals used by specifc types of nerve cell in transmission of information to other nerve cells during the normal behaviour of the intestine. We will record the behaviour of individual nerve cells in the gut wall while stimulating specific nerve pathways that contact them. We will then use drugs that block the activity of the chemicals of interest (small proteins called tachykinins, and certain amine compounds) to try and block the transmission of information between the nerve cells involved. Identification of the nature of the chemicals used at specific connections between different functional groups of nerve cells in the gut will allow the design of drugs for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders that will have minimal side effects. Further because the chemicals that are used for communication in the gut are also found in the brain, the results will provide evidence about the functions of these chemicals elsewhere in the nervous system.