Pathology Commons^™

Conceptualization Of A Parasympathetic Endocrine System., Jonathan Gorky, James Schwaber

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

We here propose a parasympathetic endocrine system (PES) comprised of circulating peptides released from secretory cells in the gut, significantly modulated by vagal projections from the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV). While most of these gut peptides mediate well-described satiety and digestive effects that increase parasympathetic control of digestion (Lee et al., 1994; Gutzwiller et al., 1999; Klok et al., 2007), they also have actions that are far-reaching and increase parasympathetic signaling broadly throughout the body. The actions beyond satiety that peptides like somatostatin, cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide 1, and vasoactive intestinal peptide have been well-examined, but not in …