The Gut is an Endocrine Organ: from Physiology to Therapy in Nutrition

The gastrointestinal tract produces a very wide variety of peptides and is considered as the largest and most complex endocrine glands. Since the discovery of secretin, more than 30 genes encoding pro-hormones have been identified and, due to alternative splicing and/or regulated post-translational maturation, these genes allow the production and secretion of more than 100 different peptides. These intestinal hormones, also called enterohormones, exert numerous effects on the gastrointestinal tract itself but also at distance (brain, pancreas, liver. . .) participating in the control of the entry of nutrients into the body, the food intake, carbohydrate homeostasis. Enterohormones are produced by enteroendocrine cells scattered along the gastrointestinal tract and secreted in response to luminal, but also endocrine, paracrine, and neuronal signals. Enteroendocrine function is impaired during undernutrition or obesity. Bariatric surgery, the main treatment for severe obesity, and extensive resection of the small intestine leading to short bowel syndrome (the main cause of intestinal failure) induce significant changes in the secretions of several enterohormones. This review summarizes the latest knowledge in the physiology of intestinal endocrine function (enteroendocrine cells, the signals stimulating them, the main roles of enterohormones) but also during nutritional pathologies (obesity, undernutrition) and the possible approaches to target this function for specific therapeutic purposes. (c) 2022 Societe fran-cophone nutrition clinique et metabolisme (SFNCM). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.