The enteric nervous system (ENS) resides within the gut wall and autonomously controls gut functions through coordinated activation of sensory, inter and motor neurons. Its activity is modulated by the enteric immune and endocrine system as well as by afferent and efferent nerves of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system. The ENS is often referred to as the second brain and hence is able to perform sophisticated tasks. We review the evidence that the "smartness" of the ENS may even extend to its ability to learn and to memorize. Examples for habituation, sensitization, conditioned behaviour and long-term facilitation are evidence for various forms of implicit learning. Moreover, we discuss how this may change not only basic Neurogastroenterology but also our understanding of development of gut diseases and chronic disorders in gut functions. At the same time, we identify open questions and future challenges to confirm learning, memory and memory deficits in the gut. Despite some remaining experimental challenges, we are convinced that the gut is able to learn and are tempted to answer the question with: Yes, the gut is smart.

中文翻译：

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学习，记住，忘记-肠道有多聪明？

肠神经系统（ENS）驻留在肠壁内，并通过协调激活感觉神经，间神经和运动神经元来自主控制肠功能。其活性受肠免疫和内分泌系统以及副交感神经和交感神经系统的传入神经和传出神经的调节。ENS通常被称为第二大脑，因此能够执行复杂的任务。我们回顾了证据，表明ENS的“聪明”甚至可以扩展到其学习和记忆的能力。习惯，敏感，条件行为和长期促进的例子是各种形式的内隐学习的证据。而且，我们讨论了这不仅会改变基本的神经胃肠病学，而且还会改变我们对肠道疾病和肠道功能慢性疾病的认识。同时，我们确定未解决的问题和未来的挑战，以确认肠道内的学习，记忆和记忆缺陷。尽管仍存在一些实验上的挑战，我们仍然坚信肠道能够学习并且很容易回答以下问题：是的，肠道很聪明。