Papers of the Week

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is a disorder of gut-brain interaction, and its putative pathophysiology involves dysregulation of gastric motility and central processing of gastric afference. The vagus nerve modulates gastric peristalsis and carries afferent sensory information to brainstem nuclei, specifically the nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS). Here, we combine MRI assessment of gastric kinematics with measures of NTS functional connectivity to the brain in patients with FD and healthy controls (HC), in order to elucidate how gut-brain axis communication is associated with FD pathophysiology.