Developmental Biology Of Gastrointestinal Hormones

The gut not only represents the largest endocrine organ of the human body but is also profoundly involved in the control of metabolism through peptide hormones. Therefore, gastrointestinal hormones are acting via autocrine, paracrine, and classical endocrine pathways and regulate e.g. digestion, hunger, and satiety. Furthermore, they are important regulators of body weight, growth, and glucose metabolism, as well as of mood and behavior. Physicians and scientists in the field of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes, as well as in pediatric gastroenterology, require an extensive understanding of the origin of enteroendocrine cells, factors controlling their differentiation, hormone gene expression, secretion, function and, finally, the complex interaction with other organs, especially the central nervous system. In order to meet these needs, experts in the field have written up-to-date, comprehensive, and illustrated reviews presenting the current knowledge in the field of gastrointestinal endocrinology with a pediatric view. Those reviews comprise this latest volume of Endocrine Development.

This book provides an up-to-date summary of the large body of data regarding gastrointestinal hormones and growth factors involved in the development and maintenance of the architecture and physiological functions of the different organs of the digestive tract. The regulation of growth and differentiation in the stomach, small intestine, colon, and pancreas is reviewed by experts in developmental and adult physiology, as well as in pathophysiology of diseases involving each organ. The book provides essential reference material for gastroenterologists, medical and university libraries, and investigators and graduate students of gastrointestinal physiology.

The discovery that the same or similar peptides are present in endocrine cells and in neurons is one of the most exciting and provocative recent developments in biology. Suddenly neurophysiologists and endocrinologists have found that they have a great deal to discuss with each other. Substances originally isolated as hypothalamic hormones turn out to be abundantly present in neurons of other parts of the brain and in endocrine cells and neurons of the gut and pancreas. Similarly, substances originally isolated as gut hormones are found not only in gut endocrine cells but also in gut neurons and in brain neurons. It turns out that the group of peptides that we are accustomed to call gastrointestinal hormones are not all confined to the gastrointestinal tract and are not all solely hormones. We are learning that the chemical transmitters of the neurocrine, endocrine, and paracrine systems form a single group of related substances. This volume contains the latest installments in this fascinating story. It tells how these pep tides were isolated and their amino acid sequences determined, how the heterogeneity of most, perhaps all, of these peptides is being revealed as variant forms of them are discovered, how antibodies to these peptides are used as powerful tools to measure their concentrations in body fluids and to localize the cells in which they are synthesized and stored, and, finally, how the role of these substances in normal physiology and in pathological states is being unraveled.

Leading clinical and basic science researchers present the latest molecular and cellular findings on key gut peptides, illuminating their physiology and pathophysiology, as well as highlighting the regulatory mechanisms underlying their action in the intestinal tract. The book focuses on gut peptide physiology and receptor pharmacology, gut processing and receptor biology, and on regulatory mechanisms in the gut, including pancreatic feedback mechanisms. Also included are chapters on the trophic effects of gut peptides on GI and pancreatic cancer; the regulation of gut peptide gene expression; and gastric secretion, especially in diseased states.

Gastrointestinal Hormones: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ eBook that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Gastrointestinal Hormones. The editors have built Gastrointestinal Hormones: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Gastrointestinal Hormones in this eBook to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Gastrointestinal Hormones: Advances in Research and Application: 2011 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

Advances in Metabolic Disorders, Volume 11: Gastrointestinal Hormones covers the developments in the study of gastrointestinal (GI) hormones. The book discusses the cytochemical techniques in work with GI hormones; the general aspects and problems for the radioimmunoassays of GI hormones in the 80s; and the response of the GI hormone system to the pathological changes. The text also describes the evolutional aspects of GI hormones; the cell membrane receptors for secretagogues on pancreatic acinar cells; and the synthesis of GI hormones using organic chemical or recombinant DNA techniques. Gastrin is reviewed with regard to its forms and fragments in tissues, circulating components during post- and perisecretory processing, cellular origins and distribution, actions and structure-function relations, metabolic disposal, nervous and chemical control for its release, and its role in human pathology. The book further tackles the chemical, anatomical, and biological studies on gastrin-releasing peptides, as well as the physiological actions of gastric inhibitory polypeptide. Discussions about the vasoactive intestinal peptide, incretin, enteroglucagon, neuropeptide Y, peptide HI, galanin, cholecystokinin-58, neuropeptide K, peptide YY, motilin, somatostatin-28, neurotensin, substance P, and opioid peptides are also encompassed. The text concludes by looking into the investigations on the structure and function of the head activator in hydra and in mammals. Molecular biologists, endocrinologists, histochemists, physiologists, and those involved in the research about GI hormones will find the book invaluable.