Inflammation in brain blood vessels leads to gastrointestinal failure

Researchers from Hokkaido University (Sapporo, Japan) have discovered a new neural pathway that could underlie the link between stress and gastrointestinal failure. In their paper, published in eLife, the investigators used an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model to demonstrate the underlying molecular mechanism behind stress and organ failure. It is hoped that the new findings could provide a new therapeutic target for disorders such as multiple sclerosis. In previous work, this research group had reported that autoreactive CD4+ T cells cross the blood–brain barrier at specific sites, leading to inflammation of the CNS. It was concluded that the existence of...