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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Phillipa on October 28, 2010, at 23:58:56
I thought this was worth repeating the posting of Coumbia's Study On Serotonin In The Gut and How No One Knows why it there as it detrimental. Does anyone know why serotonin is in the gut 95% of it. Phillipa
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/cumc-isi020110.php
Posted by Phillipa on October 29, 2010, at 0:16:27
In reply to Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat, posted by Phillipa on October 28, 2010, at 23:58:56
Seems IBS and ulcerative colitis and even anorexia are related to gut serotonin. Interesting. Phillipa older article but easily understood
Psychiatric News July 20, 2001
Volume 36 Number 14 Page 16
© American Psychiatric Association
Clinical & Research News
The Gut Is Said to Have A Mind of Its Own
Joan Arehart-Treichel
The human gut is more sophisticated than many psychiatrists probably realize, a bowel authority reported at APAs annual meeting. He also argued that the irritable bowel syndrome is essentially a physiological disorder within the gut, not provoked by the psyche.Which organ in the body has 100 million neurons and the greatest amount of the nerve transmitter serotonin?
Surprise: It is not the brain, but the gut!
This interesting tidbit about the body organ that deals with the messier things of life comes from a researcher who specializes in it. He is Michael Gershon, Ph.D., chair of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, who presented a lecture at APAs 2001 annual meeting in New Orleans in May.
Aside from dazzling his audience with the guts army of neurons and lavish quantities of serotonin, Gershon also touted some of its other virtues. To wit: Although the gut receives inputs from nerves without, it is largely self-sustained by its own nerve network. So, if the vagus nerve connecting the brain and gut is cut, the gut can still function. Or if a person blows into a gut that has been removed from the human body, the gut will blow back at him!
Whats more, Gershon pointed out, the gut can have a potent impact on the brain. For example, nearly all the nerve fibers in the vagus nerve ferry messages from the gut to the brainsay, sensations of pain or bloating. True, not all that runs up the vagus nerve reaches consciousness, Gershon said, but the impulses are sent nonetheless.
And indeed, Gershon declared, the gut contains every class of nerve-transmitting chemical that has been found in the brain. Take, for instance, serotonin. Epithelial cells that line the gut secrete serotonin. Serotonin then excites sensory nerves in the gut and in turn triggers gut reflexes that signal the brain about pain, nausea, and so forth. Such a copious amount of serotonin is released into the gut every day, in fact, that it would be lethal if the excess were not disposed of by certain cells in the gut lining that contain serotonin transporters.
Gershon also elaborated on the role that the gut plays in some digestive disorders that have traditionally been thought to be largely or even exclusively provoked by the psyche.
For instance, he suggested that the gut might be able to take at least some of the credit for anorexia nervosa. The reason, he said, is that if serotonin is injected into a rat while it is eating, it will stop eating immediately, suggesting a possible link between gut serotonin and anorexia.
We now know that ulcerative colitis is not psychologically based, he declared. Anybody chained by bloody diarrhea to a toilet seat is going to be psychologically impaired. Yes, there is an ulcerative colitis personality, but it comes from physical impairment.
He even made the case that the gut is totally responsible for irritable bowel syndrome. One reason, he said, is that the syndrome can occur in infants, as well as in children and adults, suggesting a physiological rather than psychological cause. Another is that colicky infants often grow up to have irritable bowel syndrome, once again implying a physiological cause. A third reason is that he and his colleagues have created a breed of mice that have irritable bowel syndrome. The mice lack the gene that codes for serotonin transporters in the gut.
Nonetheless, Gershon did note that these mice also lack serotonin transporters in their brains, suggesting that irritable bowel syndrome might be due to a paucity of such transporters in the brain as well as in the bowel. If such were the case, it might plunk some of the blame for the syndrome back into the psyche, or at least into the brain.
And, yes, for all its formidable talents, the gut is vulnerable in still other ways to the psyche and things psychiatric, Gershon confessed.
For instance, the brain can influence the gut via the vagus nerve just as the gut can influence the brain via this nerve.
Doses of serotonin reuptake inhibitors used to treat depression and other psychiatric disorders are well known to be capable of triggering nausea, diarrhea, and constipation in patients. They do so because they increase the activity of serotonin in the gut and thus put the gut into high gear.
Also intriguingly, whereas standard SSRI doses used to treat depression sometimes trigger nausea, diarrhea, or constipation, lower SSRI dosesless than 20 mgcan be effectively used to treat the nausea, diarrhea, and constipation caused by the irritable bowel syndrome. ▪
Posted by ed_uk2010 on October 29, 2010, at 1:59:45
In reply to Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat, posted by Phillipa on October 28, 2010, at 23:58:56
>Does anyone know why serotonin is in the gut 95% of it. Phillipa
There seems to be a tendency to think of the gut as if it were just a tube....but it's not, it's an organ with many biological functions. Neurons in the gut use a variey of transmitters, including serotonin. The nervous system in the gut helps to monitor and control digestion.
Posted by Phillipa on October 29, 2010, at 19:28:51
In reply to Re: Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat, posted by ed_uk2010 on October 29, 2010, at 1:59:45
If one has enough serotonin in gut why wouldn't there be enough in brain then? ps get the e-mail about M? PJx
Posted by maxime on October 29, 2010, at 19:41:22
In reply to Re: Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat » ed_uk2010, posted by Phillipa on October 29, 2010, at 19:28:51
> If one has enough serotonin in gut why wouldn't there be enough in brain then? ps get the e-mail about M? PJx
I really hope that I am not "M". If I find out that I was/am the sh*t is going to hit the fan.
Posted by maxime on October 29, 2010, at 19:44:02
In reply to Re: Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat » ed_uk2010, posted by Phillipa on October 29, 2010, at 19:28:51
> If one has enough serotonin in gut why wouldn't there be enough in brain then? ps get the e-mail about M? PJx
You had the same questions in 2008 and Larry gave you a very complete answer. Here is the link to the thread.
http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl?post=/babble/20081204/msgs/866984.html#866984
Posted by Phillipa on October 29, 2010, at 20:32:54
In reply to Re: Serotonin In Gut Inhibits Bone Formation Repeat » Phillipa, posted by maxime on October 29, 2010, at 19:44:02
Maxie wow that is great you found the study. So what I'm doing is what I should be doing. Interesting that after time an SSRI doesn't seem to effect but rather helps. As to the M no not you. I'll write and tell you. Phillipa
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