Mouse study provides clues to sudden onset of digestive woes
From the WashU Newsroom…
While studying viruses best known for infecting the brain, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis stumbled upon clues to a conundrum involving a completely different part of the anatomy: the bowel, and why some people possibly develop digestive problems seemingly out of the blue.
The researchers found that viruses such as West Nile and Zika that target the nervous system in the brain and spinal cord also can kill neurons in the guts of mice, disrupting bowel movement and causing intestinal blockages. Other viruses that infect neurons also may cause the same symptoms, the researchers said.
The findings, published Oct. 4 in the journal Cell, potentially could explain why some people experience recurrent, unpredictable bouts of abdominal pain and constipation – and perhaps point to a new strategy for preventing such conditions.
“There are a number of people who are otherwise healthy who suddenly develop bowel motility problems, and we don’t understand why,” said Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, MD, PhD, the Conan Professor of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine and the study’s co-senior author. “But now we believe that one explanation could be that you can get a viral infection that results in your immune cells killing infected neurons in your gut. That might be why all of a sudden you can’t move things along any more.”