Enteric glial cells are more abundant than neurons in the enteric nervous system. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that enteric glial cells share many properties with astrocytes and play pivotal roles in intestinal diseases. NDRG2 is specifically expressed in astrocytes and is involved in various diseases in the central nervous system. However, no studies have demonstrated the expression of NDRG2 in enteric glial cells. We performed immunostaining of adult mouse tissue, human colon sections, and primary enteric glial cells and the results showed that NDRG2 was widely expressed in enteric glial cells. Meanwhile, our results showed that NDRG2 was upregulated after treatment with pro-inflammatory cytokines and exposure to oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation, indicating that NDRG2 might be involved in these conditions. Moreover, we determined that NDRG2 translocated to the nucleus after treatment with pro-inflammatory cytokines but not after exposure to oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation. This study is the first to show the expression and distribution of NDRG2 in the enteric glia. Our results indicate that NDRG2 might be involved in the pathogenesis of enteric inflammation and ischemia/reperfusion injury. This study shows that NDRG2 might be a molecular target for enteric nervous system diseases.

肠神经胶质细胞比肠神经系统中的神经元更丰富。越来越多的证据表明，肠神经胶质细胞与星形胶质细胞具有许多共同特性，并在肠道疾病中发挥关键作用。NDRG2在星形胶质细胞中特异性表达，参与中枢神经系统的各种疾病。然而，没有研究证明 NDRG2 在肠神经胶质细胞中的表达。我们对成年小鼠组织、人结肠切片和原代肠神经胶质细胞进行了免疫染色，结果表明 NDRG2 在肠神经胶质细胞中广泛表达。同时，我们的结果表明，在用促炎细胞因子治疗和暴露于氧糖剥夺/再氧合后，NDRG2 上调，表明 NDRG2 可能与这些情况有关。而且，我们确定 NDRG2 在用促炎细胞因子处理后易位到细胞核，但在暴露于氧糖剥夺/再充氧后不会。该研究首次显示了 NDRG2 在肠神经胶质细胞中的表达和分布。我们的结果表明 NDRG2 可能参与肠道炎症和缺血/再灌注损伤的发病机制。这项研究表明，NDRG2 可能是肠道神经系统疾病的分子靶点。