Study advancement of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor in the enteric nervous system

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor(GDNF) is a kind of protein factor which can regulate the enteric nervous system in survival, differentiation, colonization and injury repair.It has been confirmed in the disorders of the enteric nervous system, such as hirschsprung and anorectal malformations, but the specific mechanism in regulation of this factor is still unknown.Studies have found that GDNF/GFRa1/RET and GDNF/GFRa1 / NCAM pathway may be involved in the growth and maturation of the enteric nervous system, the disorders of those pathways above may lead to diseases by affecting the differentiation, proliferation and migration of intestinal neural stem cells, causing dysfunctions in the anatomical structure and function of the intestinal neurons. Key words: Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor; Enteric nervous system; Signal pathway