Essential Roles of Enteric Neuronal Serotonin in Gastrointestinal Motility and the Development/Survival of Enteric Dopaminergic Neurons

The gut contains a large 5-HT pool in enterochromaffin (EC) cells and a smaller 5-HT pool in the enteric nervous system (ENS). During development, enteric neurons are generated asynchronously. We tested hypotheses that serotonergic neurons, which arise early, affect development/survival of later-born dopaminergic, GABAergic, nitrergic, and calcitonin gene-related peptide-expressing neurons and are essential for gastrointestinal motility. 5-HT biosynthesis depends on tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1) in EC cells and on TPH2 in neurons; therefore, mice lacking TPH1 and/or TPH2 distinguish EC-derived from neuronal 5-HT. Deletion of TPH2, but not TPH1, decreased myenteric neuronal density and proportions of dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons but did not affect the extrinsic sympathetic innervation of the gut; intestinal transit slowed in mice lacking TPH2 mice, but gastric emptying accelerated. Isolated enteric crest-derived cells (ENCDCs) expressed the serotonin reuptake transporter (SERT) and 15 subtypes of 5-HT receptor. Addition of 5-HT to cultures of isolated ENCDCs promoted total and dopaminergic neuronal development. Rings of SERT-immunoreactive terminal axons surrounded myenteric dopaminergic neurons and SERT knock-out increased intestinal levels of dopamine metabolites, implying that enteric dopaminergic neurons receive a serotonergic innervation. Observations suggest that constitutive gastrointestinal motility depends more on neuronal than EC cell serotonin; moreover, serotonergic neurons promote development/survival of some classes of late-born enteric neurons, including dopaminergic neurons, which appear to innervate and activate in the adult ENS.