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SUMMARY:Special LMNN SEMINAR // "News from the gut: The Enteric nervous sy
 stem in health and disease”
DTSTART:20170221T090000
DTEND:20170221T100000
DTSTAMP:20260916T052755Z
UID:c65aa1ed134cecfffeb29561cf5c8e2e164e9567e125450251773702
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Karl-Herbert Schäfer\, Hochschule Kaiserslautern\, University
  of Applied Sciences\, Kaiserslautern\, Germany\nThe gastrointestinal trac
 t harbors an intrinsic nervous system\, that spans from the eophagus down 
 to the large intestine\, the so called enteric nervous system (ENS). There
  are more neurons to befound in the ENS\, than in the spinal chord. The EN
 S has to adapt to constant changes during development or in diseases\, whi
 ch leads to an enormous plasticity of the system. The ENS takes part in bo
 th gastrointestinal (Crohns disease) and systemic diseases (i.e.diabetis).
  Currently\, there is an intense dabate concerning the role of the ENS in 
 neurodegeneration. Here we discuss an onset of i.e. Parkinsons disease in 
 the gut\, or the option to treat neurodegeneration by changing the microbi
 ome.\nThe working group ENS (AGENS) under the lead of Karl-Herbert Schäfe
 r investigates changes wihin the ENS\, due to nutritional\, toxic\, inflam
 matory or neurodegenerative impacts. So it could be demonstrated that infl
 ammatoric molecules such as bacterial Lipopolysaccharides do have an enour
 mous impact on the neural stem cell population within the ENS. Since Alzhe
 imers disease is supposed to have an inflammatory component\, it is not a 
 big surprise to see changes i.e. in TLR4 expresion in the ENS in AD models
 . In in vitro models of both AD and PD\, an immediate impact of Amyloid-b 
 or alpha-synuclein on cultured enteric neuronal networks and functions was
  shown.\nBesides its role in all kind of diseases\, the ENS is an ideal au
 tologous neural stem cell source. In all parts of the enteric nervous syst
 em\, nestin (a neural stem cell marker) positive cells\, can be identified
 \, isolated and grown in so called neurosphere cultures. These neurosphere
 s can be dissociated and differentiated to neurones and glial cells. The c
 ells can also be identified in the human gut and isolated from easily acce
 sible tissues\, such as the appendix. Human enteric neurospheres could suc
 cesfully be grown and transplanted into rodent brain slices to demonstrate
  the feasibility of a celular therapy. So the ENS plays not only a role as
  a potential source of biomarkers for the early diagnosis of neurodegenera
 tive diseases\, it might also deliver the appropriate cells for their trea
 tment.\n \n 
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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