Home Department: Undeclared
Mentor: Julia Kaltschmidt (Neurosurgery)

"Investigating the Impact of Pregnancy on Enteric Neurons in the Gut"

Constipation affects ~40% of pregnant women. The neurons in the gut form a network known as the Enteric Nervous System, which have recently been found to regulate gut motility. Sophia’s project investigates how gut neurons expressing prolactin receptor (PRLR), which binds to the pregnancy-related hormone prolactin, change during pregnancy. Since PRLR is present in both the mouse and human gut, Sophia will use viral tools to label and image enteric neurons in mice to visualize and quantify how they are changed. This will inform why constipation is so common in the postpartum period and future target therapies for maternal health.