Models and Tools for Studying Enteroendocrine Cells

Abstract

Gut hormones produced by gastrointestinal enteroendocrine cellsmodulate key physiological processes including glucose homeostasis and food intake,making thempotential therapeutic candidates to treat obesity and diabetes. Understanding the function of enteroendocrine cells and the molecular mechanisms driving hormone production is a key step toward mobilizing endogenous hormone reserves in the gut as a therapeutic strategy. In this review,wewill discuss the variety of ex vivo and in vitro model systems driving this research and their contributions to our current understanding of nutrientsensing mechanisms in enteroendocrine cells.