A better understanding of the cerebrointestinal axis may lead to new treatments for neuropathy

Review by Emily Henderson, Bachelor of ScienceOctober 16, 2020

Anyone who has experienced a “butterfly in the stomach” before giving a big presentation should not be surprised to find that there is a physical connection between the intestines and the brain.

Neuroscientists and healthcare professionals call this connection the “cerebral intestinal axis” (GBA). A better understanding of GBA will help develop treatments and treatments for neurological disorders such as depression and anxiety, and for various chronic autoimmune inflammatory diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and rheumatoid arthritis. There is a possibility of connecting.

Currently, these conditions and illnesses are diagnosed primarily by reporting patient symptoms. However, neuroscientists and doctors are investigating the GBA to find so-called “biomarkers” for these diseases. For GBA, the biomarker is probably serotonin.

By targeting this complex relationship between the gut and the brain, researchers hope to be able to elucidate the role of the gut microbiome in both gut and brain disorders.

Using easily identifiable biomarkers such as serotonin, there may be a way to measure how dysfunction of the gut flora affects the GBA signaling pathway.

It is very valuable to have tools that can help you better understand, diagnose your illness, and provide insights into how diet and nutrition affect your mental health.

With $ 1 million funded by the National Science Foundation, a team of experts in engineering, neuroscience, applied microbiology, and physics at the University of Maryland can monitor and model real-time processing of cellotonin activity in the gut flora. We are working on building a platform.

Three new published papers detail the progress of the work, including innovations in detecting serotonin, assessing its neurological effects, and sensing subtle changes to the intestinal epithelium.

“Electrochemical measurement of serotonin using Au-CNT electrodes prepared on a porous cell culture membrane” (https: //www.Nature.When/article/s41378-020-00184-4), the team has developed a platform that provides access to specific sites for serotonin production.

The platform included a porous membrane with an integrated serotonin sensor that could grow a model of the intestinal lining. This innovation gives researchers access to both the top and bottom surfaces of cell cultures. This is important because serotonin is secreted from the bottom of the cell.

This study is the first to demonstrate a viable method for detecting redox molecules such as serotonin directly on a porous and flexible cell culture medium. Allows superior access to molecules released from cells, creates a controllable model intestinal environment, and performs groundbreaking GBA studies without performing invasive procedures in humans or animals ..

The team’s second paper, “Hybrid Biomonitoring System for intestinal neuron communication “(https: //iee explore.ieee.org /Document/9123494), based on the first findings: Researchers have further developed a serotonin measurement platform to assess the neurological effects of serotonin.

By adding and integrating the dissected crayfish neural model to the intestinal lining model, the team created an intestinal-neuron interface that could electrophysiologically assess the neural response to electrochemically detected serotonin. ..

This advance will enable the study of molecular signaling between the gut and nerve cells, enabling real-time monitoring of both GBA tissues for the first time.

Finally, on the concept, design, and usage of the entire biomonitoring platform, the third paper, “3D Printed Electrochemical Sensor Integrated Transwell System” (https: /)/www.Nature.When/article/s41378-020-00208-z).

This white paper details the development of 3D-printed housings, the maintenance of healthy lab-on-a-chip enterocyte cultures, and the evaluation of two types of sensors integrated into cell culture membranes.

The dual sensors provide feedback on multiple components of the system, that is, the part that models the permeability of the intestinal lining (a strong indicator of disease) and its serotonin release (a measure of communication with the nervous system). Especially important.

Alongside electrochemical sensors evaluated using the standard redox molecule ferrocene dimethanol, impedance sensors were used to monitor cell growth and membrane coating.

Both of these sensors can be used to monitor enterocyte cultures in a variety of environmental and dietary conditions. Researchers can also assess changes in barrier permeability (a strong indicator of disease) and serotonin release (a measure of communication with the nervous system).