Research
Hormonal
Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) act as chemosensors that secrete hormones (e.g., GLP-1, PYY, CCK) in response to luminal nutrients, regulating appetite, glucose metabolism, and gut motility.
Your gut contains specialized cells that sense what you eat and send signals to your brain and pancreas to regulate hunger and blood sugar. This natural system can be targeted by medications to treat metabolic diseases.
StrongSupportsVERY_HIGH confidence
These specialized cells function as sensors of luminal contents that then responsively secrete hormones and peptides from the basolateral surface.
Why this rating
The paper provides extensive detail on EEC subtypes, receptors, and hormone functions.
Source
Intestinal Enteroendocrine Cells: Present and Future Druggable Targets
Roger Atanga et al. · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2023
DOI 10.3390/ijms24108836
narrative_reviewCited 49×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- GLP-1 receptor agonists (e.g., semaglutide) and GLP-2 analogs (e.g., teduglutide) are FDA-approved interventions that treat obesity and short bowel syndrome by mimicking enteroendocrine cell hormone secretion.Strong
- Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are associated with altered secretion patterns of enteroendocrine hormones, specifically decreased GLP-1 and PYY, and increased ghrelin.Good
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