Digestive regulators >>>> Vasoactive intestinal peptide - gastrointestinal neuroregulation

Vasoactive intestinal peptide - gastrointestinal neuroregulation.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) belongs to the group of gastrointestinal hormones and is one of the regulators of digestive processes, and is also known as a neuroendocrine regulator. Unlike other representatives of the hormones of the peripheral cells of the pancreas (gastrointestinal cells), the vasoactive intestinal peptide has pronounced properties of a neurotransmitter (neuroconductor, neuroregulator), for which it received its second name "neuropeptide hormone".

The neuroconductive functions of the vasoactive intestinal peptide extend far beyond the gastrointestinal tract:

Stimulates blood flow into the muscle tissue of the smooth muscles of the walls of the gastrointestinal tract and relaxes smooth muscle tissue, including relaxing the smooth muscles of the walls of the sphincters of the gastrointestinal tract.
Relaxes the smooth muscles of the walls of the gallbladder, the walls of the bladder, the walls of the blood vessels.
Relaxes the submucosal layer of smooth muscle tissue of the bronchial walls. Recent studies in the field of asthma pathogenesis pay attention to a decrease in the activity of the vasoactive intestinal peptide, suggesting inhibition (destruction) by other enzymes produced by inflammatory mediator cells, its properties to relax the walls of the bronchial tree and thereby cancel bronchospasm.
Participates in adrenergic neuroregulation of the tissues of the penis (walls of the cavernous cavities), relaxing the walls of the cavernous cavities with blood flow, thereby increasing to some extent the volume of the penis. This function of the vasoactive intestinal peptide is used for erectile dysfunction in intracavernous injection stimulation of an increase in the thickness and length of the penis.

As part of the regulation of digestion, the vasoactive intestinal peptide stimulates the separation of pancreatic and hepatic secretions, but inhibits the secretion of gastric juice.

Intestinal cells producing vasoactive intestinal peptide are located mostly in the mucous layer of the stomach and small intestine, to a lesser extent in the large intestine.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide is involved in the water-electrolyte metabolism of the digestive tract, and its increased secretion can cause diarrhea with a high water content and a large volume of stool - the so-called secretory diarrhea, which is most often a sign of cell proliferation, secreting vasoactive intestinal peptide, and the development vipomas (from the word “VIPoma”) - a malignant tumor of the gastrointestinal tract.