Nature’s Dieting Tip: Scientists Uncover Surprising Plasticity of the Gut

One of the most striking examples of gut plasticity can be observed in animals that are exposed to prolonged periods of fasting, such as hibernating animals or phyton snakes that goes for months without eating, where the gut shrinks with as much as 50%, but recovers in size following a few days of re-feeding. Importantly, the capacity of the gut to undergo resizing is broadly conserved. Hence, in humans, an increase in gut size is observed during pregnancy, which facilitates the uptake of nutrients to support the growth of the fetus.

The Colombani Andersen lab at the section of Cell & Neurobiology, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen uses the fruit fly, Drosophila, to study the mechanisms that regulate gut plasticity. The results have just been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.