Gut Feelings About Irritable Bowel Syndrome

The brain and gut are not only parallel pharmacologic systems, they are also interlinked pharmacologic systems. This link is not surprising given that the enteric nervous system, which innervates the gut, is embryologically derived from the same part of the neural crest that evolves into the brain. Thus, the brain and gut go in separate directions during early development but preserve links that exert mutual and reciprocal regulatory influences on one another.