IN THE GUT’S ‘SECOND BRAIN,’ KEY AGENTS OF HEALTH EMERGE

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Breaking down foods requires coordination across dozens of cell types and many tissues. The gut has its own network of nerve cells that can function nearly independently from the brain. Just like the brain, it is made up of two types of nervous system cells, neurons and glia. A new study has identified a new subset of glial cells that senses food as it moves through the digestive tract and signals the gut to contract and move it along its way.