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Necrotizing enterocolitis
Author(s) -
Bellodas Sanchez Jenny,
Kadrofske Mark
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
neurogastroenterology and motility
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.489
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1365-2982
pISSN - 1350-1925
DOI - 10.1111/nmo.13569
Subject(s) - necrotizing enterocolitis , medicine , pathogenesis , disease , pathophysiology , enterocolitis , intensive care medicine , enteric nervous system , neonatal intensive care unit , sepsis , intestinal microbiome , immune system , immunology , pediatrics
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an acute inflammatory disease of the intestine which primarily affects preterm infants and is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the neonatal intensive care unit. From a clinical standpoint, and during the early course of the disease, NEC can be difficult to distinguish from other diseases and conditions common to the preterm infant, and this warrants the need for specific disease biomarkers. The pathogenesis of NEC is only partly understood but likely involves an altered intestinal barrier immune response to feeding and the developing microbiome. Recent evidence points toward a role of the enteric nervous system in NEC pathogenesis. In this issue, Meister and colleagues use a rodent model of NEC to demonstrate that NEC is associated with diminished vagal tone, as determined by decreased high‐frequency heart rate variability (HF‐HRV), and altered myenteric nitrergic inhibitory neurotransmission. These results augment their previous findings that describe decreased HF‐HRV in human preterm infants with NEC. This mini‐review provides a brief summary of clinical and pathophysiologic aspects of NEC with focus on certain aspects of neurogastroenterology.