American Scientist

You literally are what you eat, so what happens when you try to deceive your tastebuds with artificial sweeteners and low-fat substitutes?

That's my take on one of the many questions Duke University's Diego Bohórquez is pursuing as a self-described "gut-brain neuroscientist."

A few years ago, Bohórquez and his colleagues discovered a direct route from the brain to what are called enteroendocrine cells—these are cells in the intestine that were already known to affect the brain indirectly by secreting a wide range of hormones. Turns out, at least some of these cells also extend a protrusion to connect with neuron cells, which the researchers showed in a dramatic video:

Now, Bohórquez is investigating what signals those cells are sending one another, and how those signals from the gut are translated by the brain to influence our behavior.

In a talk about his research for a local Sigma Xi chapter (Sigma Xi is American Scientist's publisher), Bohórquez said that these enteroendocrine-cell protrusions—called neuropods—are able to sense caloric and fat content, too, and so may be signaling to the brain that the taste of that low-fat, artificially sweetened milkshake you just drank was not, in fact, loaded with the fats or calories your body was expecting.

So it's at least conceivable that your brain learns, in some sense, that it can't always trust your tongue, and that could change your behavior.

The signaling capacity of the neuropod (never mind my speculation about the subsequent, conceivable behavioral effects) is still unpublished research, Bohórquez says, but he expects to publish it later this year. We spoke also about the larger goals of his research, which include finding new ways to treat the brain directly.

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