When
4 – 5 p.m., Aug. 26, 2025
Where
M. Maya Kaelberer
Assistant Professor, Physiology
University of Arizona
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A Gut Sense
Abstract: Our food choices are driven not just by our five senses, but by a newly recognized "gut sense" mediated by neuropod cells. Beyond their role in satiety hormone release (e.g., cholecystokinin and GLP-1), neuropod cells are electrically excitable, have voltage-gated calcium channels, contain secretory vesicles, and form synapses to rapidly transduce stimuli from the gut lumen to the brain. These cells transduce nutrient stimuli onto connecting neurons in milliseconds to drive our food choice. We are only at the beginning of understanding what this new sense, a gut sense, means to our understanding of how we perceive nutrients, and how this perception is guiding our everyday behavior.
Abstract: Our food choices are driven not just by our five senses, but by a newly recognized "gut sense" mediated by neuropod cells. Beyond their role in satiety hormone release (e.g., cholecystokinin and GLP-1), neuropod cells are electrically excitable, have voltage-gated calcium channels, contain secretory vesicles, and form synapses to rapidly transduce stimuli from the gut lumen to the brain. These cells transduce nutrient stimuli onto connecting neurons in milliseconds to drive our food choice. We are only at the beginning of understanding what this new sense, a gut sense, means to our understanding of how we perceive nutrients, and how this perception is guiding our everyday behavior.
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Sponsor(s)
Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience