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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2018; 24(15): 1616-1621
Published online Apr 21, 2018. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v24.i15.1616
Autonomic nervous system network and liver regeneration
Kenya Kamimura, Ryosuke Inoue, Takuro Nagoya, Norihiro Sakai, Ryo Goto, Masayoshi Ko, Yusuke Niwa, Shuji Terai
Kenya Kamimura, Ryosuke Inoue, Takuro Nagoya, Norihiro Sakai, Ryo Goto, Masayoshi Ko, Yusuke Niwa, Shuji Terai, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata 951-8510, Japan
Author contributions: Kamimura K wrote the manuscript; Inoue R, Nagoya T, Sakai N, Goto R, Ko M, Niwa Y, and Terai S collected information and performed experiments; all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by the Brain Research Institute Grant, Niigata University.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Niigata University. All animal experiments were approved by and conducted in full compliance with the regulations of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no current financial arrangement or affiliation with any organization that may have a direct influence on their work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Kenya Kamimura, MD, PhD, Lecturer, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, 1-757 Asahimachido-ri, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. kenya-k@med.niigata-u.ac.jp
Telephone: +81-25-2272207 Fax: +81-25-2270776
Received: March 13, 2018
Peer-review started: March 14, 2018
First decision: March 30, 2018
Revised: April 1, 2018
Accepted: April 16, 2018
Article in press: April 16, 2018
Published online: April 21, 2018
Processing time: 37 Days and 19.7 Hours
Abstract

To date, various signal transducers, cytokines, growth factors, and hormones have been reported to play an important role in homeostasis of various organs. Various cells and organs are involved in the hepatic regeneration process, which proceeds as a result of the coordination of many factors. While these factors are well known to be involved in the liver regeneration after the liver injury, however, as the details of such mechanisms have not been sufficiently elucidated, the practical applicability of hepatic regeneration based on the action of these and cytokines growth factors is still unclear. In terms of the involvement of the autonomic nervous system in hepatic regeneration, cell proliferation resulting from direct signal transduction to the liver has also been reported and recent studies focusing on the inter-organ communication via neural network opened a novel aspect of this field for therapeutic applicability. Therefore, the appropriate understanding of the relationship between autonomic neural network and liver regeneration through various organs including brain, afferent nerve, efferent nerve, etc. is essential. This mini-review explains the principle of neural system involved in the inter-organ communication and its contribution on the liver regeneration upon the liver injury reviewing recent progress in this field.

Keywords: Autonomic nerve; Neural network; Liver regeneration; Hormone

Core tip: The review of the relationship between autonomic neural network and liver regeneration shows that an inter-organ communication is functioning in a coordinated manner through the autonomic nervous system as a biological mechanism for hepatic regeneration and functional maintenance when the liver is damaged. Therefore, this mini-review presents how autonomic nerve fibers affect hepatic regeneration including the results of our most recent research.