Digestive System Commons^™

Anatomy And Function Of Autonomic Innervation Of The Liver, Kennan Negrete

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal (URJ)

The liver is one of the most important regulatory organs, and its extensive influence upon homeostatic balance is well-documented. However, the role of autonomic innervation in the control and regulation of hepatic function is poorly understood relative to the other organs of the digestive system. Furthermore, the neuroanatomical layout of the liver remains an incomplete puzzle with various missing pieces. The scarcity of information concerning such a critical organ presents an interesting conundrum for the scientific and biomedical communities alike, especially given the prevalence of liver degeneracy and disease in the modern clinical setting. A more complete understanding of the ...

The Snakeskin-Mesh Complex Of Smooth Septate Junction Restricts Yorkie To Regulate Intestinal Homeostasis In Drosophila, Hsi-Ju Chen, Qi Li, Niraj K. Nirala, Y. Tony Ip

Open Access Articles

Tight junctions in mammals and septate junctions in insects are essential for epithelial integrity. We show here that, in the Drosophila intestine, smooth septate junction proteins provide barrier and signaling functions. During an RNAi screen for genes that regulate adult midgut tissue growth, we found that loss of two smooth septate junction components, Snakeskin and Mesh, caused a hyperproliferation phenotype. By examining epitope-tagged endogenous Snakeskin and Mesh, we demonstrate that the two proteins are present in the cytoplasm of differentiating enteroblasts and in cytoplasm and septate junctions of mature enterocytes. In both enteroblasts and enterocytes, loss of Snakeskin and Mesh ...

269— Age Of Colon Cancer Screening - A Retrospective Review, Christopher Cook

GREAT Day

Colon cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related death in the U.S. In 2019, the American Cancer Society predicted that 101,420 people in the U.S. would receive a new diagnosis of colon cancer. Due to this high prevalence, there has been a recent debate about the appropriate age to start colon cancer screening. Currently, the American Society of Gastroenterology recommends that screening start for average risk individuals at the age of 50. Conversely, the American Cancer Society has recently recommended that colon cancer screening for average risk individuals begin at the age of 45. The ...

Innate Immunity In The C. Elegans Intestine Is Programmed By A Neuronal Regulator Of Awc Olfactory Neuron Development, Kyle J. Foster, Hilary K. Cheesman, Pengpeng Liu, Nicholas D. Peterson, Sarah M. Anderson, Read Pukkila-Worley

Open Access Articles

Olfactory neurons allow animals to discriminate nutritious food sources from potential pathogens. From a forward genetic screen, we uncovered a surprising requirement for the olfactory neuron gene olrn-1 in the regulation of intestinal epithelial immunity in Caenorhabditis elegans. During nematode development, olrn-1 is required to program the expression of odorant receptors in the AWC olfactory neuron pair. Here, we show that olrn-1 also functions in AWC neurons in the cell non-autonomous suppression of the canonical p38 MAPK PMK-1 immune pathway in the intestine. Low activity of OLRN-1, which activates the p38 MAPK signaling cassette in AWC neurons during larval development ...

Intestinal Neurod1 Expression Impairs Paneth Cell Differentiation And Promotes Enteroendocrine Lineage Specification, Joyce H. Li, Subir Ray, Ning Pan, Jody Haigh, Bernd Fritzsch, Andrew B. Leiter

Open Access Articles

Transcription factor Neurod1 is required for enteroendocrine progenitor differentiation and maturation. Several earlier studies indicated that ectopic expression of Neurod1 converted non- neuronal cells into neurons. However, the functional consequence of ectopic Neurod1 expression has not been examined in the GI tract, and it is not known whether Neurod1 can similarly switch cell fates in the intestine. We generated a mouse line that would enable us to conditionally express Neurod1 in intestinal epithelial cells at different stages of differentiation. Forced expression of Neurod1 throughout intestinal epithelium increased the number of EECs as well as the expression of EE specific transcription ...

Comparative Pangenomics Of The Mammalian Gut Commensal Bifidobacterium Longum, Korin Albert, Asha Rani, David Sela

Open Access Articles

Bifidobacterium longum colonizes mammalian gastrointestinal tracts where it could metabolize host-indigestible oligosaccharides. Although B. longum strains are currently segregated into three subspecies that reflect common metabolic capacities and genetic similarity, heterogeneity within subspecies suggests that these taxonomic boundaries may not be completely resolved. To address this, the B. longum pangenome was analyzed from representative strains isolated from a diverse set of sources. As a result, the B. longum pangenome is open and contains almost 17,000 genes, with over 85% of genes found in < /=28 of 191 strains. B. longum genomes share a small core gene set of only ~500 genes, or ~3% of the total pangenome. Although the individual B. longum subspecies pangenomes share similar relative abundances of clusters of orthologous groups, strains show inter- and intrasubspecies differences with respect to carbohydrate utilization gene content and growth phenotypes.

Safe And Effective Use Of A Hands-Free Intracorporeal Retractor For Suture-Based Liver Retraction During Minimally Invasive Bariatric Procedures: Results Of A Large Case Series, Roger De La Torre, Matthew Sappington, Tom Smith, Jeremy Bryner, David Mantilla, J Stephen Scott

General Surgery

Background

Laparoscopic bariatric surgery requires retraction of the left lobe of the liver to provide adequate operative view and working space. Conventional approaches utilize a mechanical retractor that requires a dedicated incision, may cause liver damage, and often requires an assistant. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of hands-free intracorporeal retractors in a large series of subjects undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery. This method eliminates the need for a subxiphoid incision, enables full surgeon autonomy, and allows for adjustments throughout the procedure.

Methods

Retrospective chart review identified all subjects at a single hospital undergoing bariatric surgery between September 2017-March 2019 ...

Single Cell Transcriptomic Profiling Of Large Intestinal Enteroendocrine Cells In Mice - Identification Of Selective Stimuli For Insulin-Like Peptide-5 And Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Co-Expressing Cells, Lawrence J. Billing, Pierre Larraufie, Jo Lewis, Andrew B. Leiter, Joyce H. Li, Brian Lam, Giles Sh. Yeo, Deborah A. Goldspink, Richard G. Kay, Fiona M. Gribble, Frank Reimann

Open Access Articles

OBJECTIVE: Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) of the large intestine, found scattered in the epithelial layer, are known to express different hormones, with at least partial co-expression of different hormones in the same cell. Here we aimed to categorize colonic EECs and to identify possible targets for selective recruitment of hormones.

METHODS: Single cell RNA-sequencing of sorted enteroendocrine cells, using NeuroD1-Cre x Rosa26-EYFP mice, was used to cluster EECs from the colon and rectum according to their transcriptome. G-protein coupled receptors differentially expressed across clusters were identified, and, as a proof of principle, agonists of Agtr1a and Avpr1b were tested as candidate ...

Extracapsular Hepatocellular Adenoma: A Diagnostic Dilemma, Iisin Y. Comba, Richard Henriquez, Sundeep Kumar, Ruthvik Srinvasa-Murthy, Maria Wallis-Crespo, Olga Karasik, Lakhinder Bhatia, Dong Xu

Gastroenterology

Introduction: Hepatocellular adenoma (HCA) is a benign tumor of the liver and almost always located intracapsular. Bleeding (25%), and malignant transformation (5%) can complicate the disease course if left untreated. Herein, we present a case of extracapsular HCA of ectopic liver in the omentum complicated with intraperitoneal hemorrhage.

Case Description/Methods: A 43-year-old lady with no past medical history presented to emergency department with two-day history of left shoulder pain and epigastric discomfort. Her only medication was an oral contraceptive pill (OCP). On physical exam, the patient had persistent sinus tachycardia, and epigastric tenderness. Initial labs were unremarkable except for ...

Expression Of Mitochondrial Membrane-Linked Sab Determines Severity Of Sex-Dependent Acute Liver Injury, Sanda Win, Robert W. M. Min, Christopher Q. Chen, Jun Zhang, Yibu Chen, Meng Li, Ayako Suzuki, Manal F. Abdelmalek, Ying Wang, Mariam Aghajan, Filbert W. M. Aung, Anna Mae Diehl, Roger J. Davis, Tin A. Than, Neil Kaplowitz

University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications

SAB is an outer membrane docking protein for JNK mediated impaired mitochondrial function. Deletion of Sab in hepatocytes inhibits sustained JNK activation and cell death. Current work demonstrated that increasing SAB enhanced the severity of APAP liver injury. Female mice were resistant to liver injury and exhibited markedly decreased hepatic SAB protein expression versus males. The mechanism of SAB repression involved a pathway from ERalpha to p53 expression which induced miR34a-5p. miR34a-5p targeted the Sab mRNA coding region, repressing SAB expression. Fulvestrant or p53 knockdown decreased miR34a-5p and increased SAB in females leading to increased injury from APAP and TNF ...

Cognitive And Microbiome Impacts Of Experimental Ancylostoma Ceylanicum Hookworm Infections In Hamsters, Samuel C. Pan, Doyle V. Ward, Yunqiang Yin, Yan Hu, Elfawal A. Mostafa, Robert E. Clark, Raffi V. Aroian

Open Access Articles

Hookworms are one of the most prevalent and important parasites, infecting ~500 million people worldwide. Hookworm disease is among the leading causes of iron-deficiency anemia in the developing world and is associated with significant growth stunting and malnutrition. In humans, hookworms appear to impair memory and other forms of cognition, although definitive data are hard to come by. Here we study the impact of a human hookworm parasite, Ancylostoma ceylanicum, on cognition in hamsters in a controlled laboratory setting. We developed tests that measure long-term memory in hamsters. We find that hookworm-infected hamsters were fully capable of detecting a novel ...

Alzheimer's Disease Microbiome Is Associated With Dysregulation Of The Anti-Inflammatory P-Glycoprotein Pathway, John P. Haran, Shakti K. Bhattarai, Sage Foley, Protiva Dutta, Doyle V. Ward, Vanni Bucci, Beth A. Mccormick

Open Access Articles

The microbiota-gut-brain axis is a bidirectional communication system that is poorly understood. Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common cause of dementia, has long been associated with bacterial infections and inflammation-causing immunosenescence. Recent studies examining the intestinal microbiota of AD patients revealed that their microbiome differs from that of subjects without dementia. In this work, we prospectively enrolled 108 nursing home elders and followed each for up to 5 months, collecting longitudinal stool samples from which we performed metagenomic sequencing and in vitro T84 intestinal epithelial cell functional assays for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expression, a critical mediator of intestinal homeostasis. Our ...

A Rare Manifestation Of A Bleeding Tubulovillous Duodenal Polyp Presenting As An Upper Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage, Neethi Dasu, Yaser Khalid, Herman Suga, Michael Itidiare, Richard Walters

Stratford Campus Research Day

• Duodenal polyps are a group of polyps that are fairly uncommon to find on endoscopic evaluation (1).

• They are histologically classified according to mucin phenotype into intestinal and gastric subtypes; the intestinal-type polyps are morphologically subdivided into tubular and tubulovillous adenomas (2)

• We present a case of a 76-year-old male with recurrent hematemesis who was found to have an intestinal-type pedunculated tubulovillous adenoma (TVA) in the descending duodenum • An isolated occurrence of non-ampullary sporadic duodenal adenomas (SDA)’s are a rare finding and presentation as an upper GI hemorrhage is extremely uncommon (3)

• Furthermore, our patient’s polyp was pedunculated ...

Toothpick Perforation Of Colon Mimicking Acute Appendicitis, Jacob Wilson D.O., Adeshola Fakulujo M.D.

Stratford Campus Research Day

This study presents a case report of a rare complication of foreign body ingestion and offers a literature review of management options. Pre-operative imaging and clinical history was reviewed. During diagnostic laparoscopy the diagnosis of ascending colon perforation with a foreign body was made and managed with a Laparoscopic Right Hemicolectomy. Literature was reviewed for case of toothpick ingestion requiring intervention, foreign body ingestion causing perforation, and management of foreign body perforations.

Suffering In Silence: Is Gastroparesis Underdiagnosed?, Dennis J. Baumgardner

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

In this introduction to Volume 6, Issue 2, the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews offers additional comment to the clinical review of diabetic gastroparesis authored by Farmer and colleagues (p. 148), regarding the problem of undiagnosed disease. Increased awareness of this entity and appropriate questioning regarding symptoms of diabetic gastroparesis in the primary care setting may prevent the “suffering in silence” experienced by many patients with this complication.

A Highly Expressed Intestinal Cysteine Protease Of Ancylostoma Ceylanicum Protects Vaccinated Hamsters From Hookworm Infection, Jason B. Noon, Erich M. Schwarz, Gary R. Ostroff, Raffi V. Aroian

Open Access Articles

BACKGROUND: Human hookworms (Necator americanus, Ancylostoma duodenale, and Ancylostoma ceylanicum) are intestinal blood-feeding parasites that infect ~500 million people worldwide and are among the leading causes of iron-deficiency anemia in the developing world. Drugs are useful against hookworm infections, but hookworms rapidly reinfect people, and the parasites can develop drug resistance. Therefore, having a hookworm vaccine would be of tremendous benefit.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the vaccine efficacy in outbred Syrian hamsters of three A. ceylanicum hookworm antigen candidates from two classes of proteins previously identified as promising vaccine candidates. These include two intestinally-enriched, putatively secreted cathepsin B cysteine ...

Aortoduodenal Fistula Forms From Primary Aortic Stump Graft In A Two-Time Multi-Visceral Transplant Patient With Presentation Of Gastrointestinal Bleed And Bowel Perforation: A Case Report, Brielle Corrente

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Usually not diagnosed until open laparotomy, aortoduodenalfistulas (ADF) are one of the rarest complications of intestinal transplant surgery. With an incidence rate of only 0.04% at autopsy and only 250 documented cases since the early 1800’s, aortoduodenal fistulas are the most deadly complications of intestinal transplantation with a mortality rate of 100% without surgical intervention. A 39 year old, two-time multi-visceral transplant African American female patient suffered from a primary aortoduodenal fistula formation in a primary modified multi-visceral transplant aortic stump graft site. With emergency open laparotomy repair, revascularization of the secondary multi-visceral transplant was performed, saving the ...

Derivation Of Adult Canine Intestinal Organoids For Translational Research In Gastroenterology, Lawrance Chandra, Dana C. Borcherding, Dawn Kingsbury, Todd Atherly, Yoko M. Ambrosini, Agnes Bourgois-Mochel, Wang Yuan, Michael J. Kimber, Yijun Qi, Qun Wang, Michael Wannemeuhler, N. Matthew Ellinwood, Elizabeth Snella, Martin Martin, Melissa Skala, David Meyerholz, Mary Estes, Martin E. Fernandez-Zapico, Albert E. Jergens, Jonathan P. Mochel, Karin Allenspach

Biomedical Sciences Publications

Background: Large animal models, such as the dog, are increasingly being used for studying diseases including gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. Dogs share similar environmental, genomic, anatomical, and intestinal physiologic features with humans. To bridge the gap between commonly used animal models, such as rodents, and humans, and expand the translational potential of the dog model, we developed a three-dimensional (3D) canine GI organoid (enteroid and colonoid) system. Organoids have recently gained interest in translational research as this model system better recapitulates the physiological and molecular features of the tissue environment in comparison with two-dimensional cultures.

Results: Organoids were derived from tissue ...

Human Gut Microbiome, Enrico José Aveiro Johannsen, Mandy Peak

Posters

The human gut microbiome has been an area of interest for researchers due to its established link with human metabolism, nutrition, physiology, and immune functions. The research presented further investigates the microbiome to better understand it. Stools from two healthy young African males and a French obese individual were analyzed using MALDI-TOF MS and the enrichment culture technique. For the identification of bacterial species metagenomics, genomics, and culturomics were used. The results showed a much broader biodiversity in the human gut than previously predicted, as well as better results when using culturomics for measuring biodiversity in large-scale isolation.

Multi-Dimensional Transcriptional Remodeling By Physiological Insulin In Vivo, Thiago M. Batista, Ruben Garcia-Martin, Weikang Cai, Masahiro Konishi, Brian T. O'Neill, Masaji Sakaguchi, Jong Hun Kim, Dae Young Jung, Jason K. Kim, C. Ronald Kahn

Open Access Articles

Regulation of gene expression is an important aspect of insulin action but in vivo is intertwined with changing levels of glucose and counter-regulatory hormones. Here we demonstrate that under euglycemic clamp conditions, physiological levels of insulin regulate interrelated networks of more than 1,000 transcripts in muscle and liver. These include expected pathways related to glucose and lipid utilization, mitochondrial function, and autophagy, as well as unexpected pathways, such as chromatin remodeling, mRNA splicing, and Notch signaling. These acutely regulated pathways extend beyond those dysregulated in mice with chronic insulin deficiency or insulin resistance and involve a broad network of ...