Trust your gut is more than an expression. The gut’s ability to influence our wellbeing is rooted in the enteric nervous system. This complex network of neurons and glial cells that lines the gut is often called the “second brain.”

MSU researcher Brian Gulbransen has been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, to investigate how the two main cell types that make up the enteric nervous system, glia and neurons, optimize gut functions in health and how a breakdown in glia-neuron communication contributes to gut dysfunction in disease. This research could help identify new approaches to treating common digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, and inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD.

“Glial cells surround gut neurons and listen to how the neurons communicate,” said Gulbransen, a MSU Research Foundation Professor in the College of Natural Science’s Department of Physiology. “We are curious about how the glial cells ‘talk’ back to their neuron neighbors, and how this affects the circuitry that controls gut functions.”