People with irritable bowel syndrome have significantly less white matter in the insula, a part of the brain associated with visceral sensations in the gastrointestinal tract, researchers have found.
Whether the differences in brain microstructures among patients with IBS are a cause or an effect is unclear, but experts in the disease said the new findings may ultimately lead to changes in treatment for the condition.
“The paradigm of the brain–gut axis has been central to our