05). The amounts of anandamide, 2-arachidonylglycerol, and palmitoylethanolamide, which are negatively correlated with

enzyme activity, were significantly higher in the constipation group than that in the control group. In the STC group, cannabinoid receptor type 1 immunoreactivity occurred predominantly in the submucosal and myenteric fibers that were obviously strong and wave-like in their appearance. Enteric ganglions decreased or disappeared. The tone of the enteric cannabinoids system is disturbed in STC, and the decreased enteric FAAH activity contributes to colonic C59 wnt inertia in STC. “
“The liver and exocrine pancreas share a common structure, with functioning units (hepatic plates and pancreatic acini) connected to the ductal tree. Here we show that Sox9 is expressed throughout the biliary and pancreatic ductal epithelia, which are connected to the intestinal stem-cell zone. Cre-based lineage tracing showed that adult intestinal cells, hepatocytes and pancreatic acinar cells are supplied physiologically from Sox9-expressing progenitors. Combination of lineage analysis and hepatic injury experiments showed involvement of Sox9-positive precursors in liver regeneration. Embryonic pancreatic

Sox9-expressing cells differentiate into all types of mature cells, but their capacity for endocrine differentiation diminishes shortly after birth, when endocrine cells detach from the epithelial lining of the ducts and form the islets SCH772984 clinical trial of Langerhans. We observed

a developmental switch in the hepatic progenitor cell type from Sox9-negative to Sox9-positive progenitors as the biliary tree develops. These results suggest interdependence between the structure and homeostasis of endodermal organs, with Sox9 expression being linked to progenitor status. Furuyama K, Kawaguchi Y, Akiyama H, Horiguchi M, Kodama S, Kuhara T, et al. Continuous cell supply from a Sox9-expressing progenitor zone in adult liver, exocrine pancreas and intestine. Nat Genet 2011;43:34-41. (Reprinted with permission) Available at: www.nature.com It is widely believed that in the normal liver a low rate of hepatocyte “wear and tear” renewal occurs, although hepatocytes can mount a brisk regenerative response to the acute 上海皓元医药股份有限公司 loss of parenchymal tissue.1 On the other hand, more severe liver damage, particularly long-standing iterative injury (e.g., chronic viral hepatitis) or when replicative senescence occurs (e.g., in steatohepatitis), activates a facultative stem cell compartment located within the intrahepatic biliary tree, producing cords of bipotential transit-amplifying cells (named oval cells in rodents and hepatic progenitor cells [HPCs] in humans) that can ultimately differentiate into hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells. The identity of parenchymal stem cells is unclear.