Gastrointestinal Sensation: General Principles

Our gastrointestinal (GI) tract is innervated by an assortment of afferent nerve fibers that allow us to detect a wide variety of information, including different types of mechanical and chemical stimuli. This information is sent via the spinal cord and brainstem to higher brain regions, resulting in sensations ranging from hunger, fullness, urge and in the extreme, pain. Millions of people around the globe suffer from a variety of different diseases that affect the GI tract. Such diseases are known to cause these afferent nerve fibers to become hypersensitive to mechanical and chemical stimuli, resulting in abnormal GI tract function and pathological chronic pain.