Abstract
You have heard about the 5 senses, right? We use sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to understand the world. But did you know your gut has its own sense? It doesn’t notice light or sound, but it can pick up signals from bacteria.
We looked at one of these signals, a chemical called flagellin. Almost all bacteria make flagellin to build their tiny tails. Special cells in the gut can sense flagellin. When they do, they release a fast signal that uses the vagus nerve to tell the brain, “You’re full.” In our mouse studies, animals without this sensor ate bigger meals and gained more weight. This shows that the gut can directly sense bacteria to control eating. We call this new pathway the neurobiotic sense.
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