Enteric Nervous System - Function

Function

The ENS is capable of autonomous functions such as the coordination of reflexes; although it receives considerable innervation from the autonomic nervous system, it can and does operate independently of the brain and the spinal cord. Its study is the focus of neurogastroenterology.
ENS function can be damaged by ischemia. Transplantation, which had been described as a theoretical possibility in earlier versions of this article, is now (2011) a clinical reality in the United States and is performed at a number of approved centers.

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