Enteric and Sympathetic Nervous System Pathways Mediate Early Life Stress Effects on Gut Motility and Pain: Mechanistic Findings with Human Correlation

The authors investigate how early life stress (ELS) affects gut motility and pain, aiming to elucidate the underlying mechanisms linking ELS to long-term gastrointestinal dysmotility and disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBI). Using a maternal separation mouse model, they found that ELS leads to visceral hypersensitivity, altered enteric nervous system composition, and sympathetic overactivity, which were also correlated with maternal mental health issues in human pediatric cohorts. These findings suggest that targeting the enteric and sympathetic pathways may provide therapeutic avenues for addressing ELS-related gut dysfunction.