Question

How can you justify enteric nervous system and second brain?

Answer 1

Enteric nervous system (ENS) called as second brain of the gut because
1)Enteric nervous system ,the second brain consists of sheaths of neurons embedded in the walls of the long tube of our gut or alimentary canal
2)The second brain measure about 9m end to end from oesophagus to the anus.
3)It contains 100millions of neurons or more either in spinal cord or the peripheral nervous system (PNS)
4)This multitude of neurons enables us to "feel" the inner world of the gut and it's contents
5)It also contains mass of neural tissue filled with neurotransmitters .
6)This reveals that it does much more than merely handle digestion but also hunger pangs .
7)ENS stimulates and coordinates the breaking down of food ,absorbing nutrients and expelling of waste .
8)This equipped with its own reflexes and senses ,the second brain can control several gut functions often independently of the brain .
9)Several scientists also believed that the ENS is a way too complicated to have evolved only to make sure things move through and out of gut smoothly.
10)Hence,we can justify that the enteric nervous system as the second brain of the gut.