News

Nitrates, including cardiac medications and food additives, are common headache triggers, mediated by nitric oxide, a potent vasodilator.

Microbes can control their animal hosts by manipulating the molecular machinery of their cells, triggering patterns of gene expression that consequently contribute to health and disease, new research shows. The work, which was conducted in zebrafish and mice cells, could have implications for human inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Another connection between the gut and the brain.

For a healthy body full of ‘good’ bacteria, you may need to do a lot more than eat a probiotic yoghurt, as Adam Rutherford discovered when he took a rather uncomfortable test.

Neuroscientists have, for the first time, shown that gut bacteria "speak" to the brain to control food choices in animals.

The life expectancy of older fish is extended if their gut is colonized with the microorganisms of younger fish.

Once anathema, it now seems that a 'dirty' environment can enrich a baby's microbiome and lessen her or his likelihood of developing everything from obesity to asthma. Again, it seems that we can rely on man's best friend to help us out.

Summary Compartmentalization of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of metazoans is critical for health. GI compartments contain specific microbiota, and microbiota dysbiosis is associated with intestinal dysfunction. Dysbiosis develops in aging intestines, yet how this relates to changes in GI compartmentalization remains unclear. The Drosophila GI tract is an accessible model to address this question. Here we show that the stomach-like copper cell region (CCR) in the middle midgut controls distri...