Physiological and morphological changes in the gastrointestinal tract induced by hypothalamic intervention: an overview.

Neural control and modulation of gastric secretion is well established. The role of the parasympathetic vagal system as a final motor pathway in gastric acid secretion is clearer than the involvement of the sympathetic nervous system. Both portions of the autonomic nervous system, however, appear to play an important role in the pathogenesis of at least experimentally induced gastric erosions. With respect to higher neural control there are numerous reports of hypothalamic effects on gastric secretion, motility, and morphology, yet the results of many of these reports appear equivocal. This ambiguity can be attributed in part to species differences, time course of observations, and differences in stimulation and lesion parameters. However, a mcal description of the sites of central lesions and stimulation. Implications of several of the studies concerning hypothalamic involvement in gastric functions are reviewed and recent methodological advances including neural fiber transection, relatively specific neural cell damage with neurotoxins (e.g., 6-OHDA, kainic acid), histochemistry and intracerebral infusions of gut hormones are suggested as alternative approaches to studying brain-gut relationships.