Autonomic nervous system articles from across Nature Portfolio

In this issue of Nature Metabolism, Neri et al. show that two distinct stellate ganglion subcircuits innervating interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) separately control thermogenesis and glucose tolerance, providing a mechanistic explanation for temperature-independent benefits of iBAT on glycaemia.

A vagal reflex to blood volume changes in the heart involves PIEZO2 and helps to stabilize blood pressure in an upright posture and after blood loss.

Neri et al. develop elegant tools to understand how the sympathetic nervous system regulates intrascapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) function. Using these tools, they find that sympathetic nerves targeting the iBAT parenchyma control local blood flow and heat production, while those innervating the iBAT vasculature regulate systemic glucose metabolism.

Stable adipocytes resist lipolysis in healthy states but are highly susceptible to a catecholamine-independent, neurosystemic pathway-driven catabolic state.

The high prevalence of anxiety in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Here, authors show SP alleviates colitis and anxiety-like behaviors via gut microbiota and inositol by blocking microglial NF-κB and enhancing astrocytic GABAergic/Ca²⁺ signaling.

In this issue of Nature Metabolism, Neri et al. show that two distinct stellate ganglion subcircuits innervating interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) separately control thermogenesis and glucose tolerance, providing a mechanistic explanation for temperature-independent benefits of iBAT on glycaemia.

In a new study by Liu and colleagues, researchers demonstrated a novel neuroepithelial circuit in colonic neuropod cells through which a molecular pattern from resident microorganisms was relayed to the brain — a ‘neurobiotic sense’ by which the host adjusted its feeding behaviour by monitoring a gut microbial pattern.

Body-to-brain communication profoundly affects physiology and behaviour. Sensory neurons that express oxytocin receptors relay mechanical stretch of the gut and heart to the brain. Surprisingly, simultaneous firing of these neurons reliably elicits a hypometabolic state that resembles torpor. These observations could have implications ranging from cardiometabolic therapeutics to space travel.