New insights into our ‘first brain’ – in gut

Aug 15, 2021

One of the first images of the nerve system at work in a ‘live’ intestine.

New research explains how the nervous system in the gut causes propulsion along the gut, highlighting similar behaviour to other neural networks in the brain and spinal cord.

The study, led by Professor Nick Spencer at Flinders University, maintains that the ENS in the gut is the ‘first brain’ and that it evolved long before the brain as we know it, in humans. The new findings uncover major new information about how the many thousands of neurons in the ENS communicate with each other to cause the muscle layers to contract and propel content. Until now, this had been a major unresolved issue.

https://www.miragenews.com/new-insig...in-gut-613734/