| First Author | Hwang S | Year | 2026 |
| Journal | Exp Mol Med | Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 9 | Pages | 3214-3225 |
| PubMed ID | 42786189 | Mgi Jnum | J:393182 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:8448061 | Doi | 10.1038/s12276-026-01824-x |
| Citation | Hwang S, et al. (2026) Breath volatiles reflect diabetic gastroparesis and its recovery by activating Na(v)1.8-expressing neurons in mice. Exp Mol Med 58(9):3214-3225 |
| abstractText | Patients with diabetic gastroparesis (DG) experience chronic, challenging symptoms and currently lack effective treatment options. This study examined whether activating Na(v)1.8-expressing neurons could improve gastric motility and whether volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled breath could serve as non-invasive indicators of disease status and treatment response. In streptozotocin-induced male diabetic mice, chemogenetic activation of Na(v)1.8-expressing neurons improved gastric motility in DG mice. At the same time, breath VOC profiles differed between DG and non-diabetic controls, with diabetic (3 weeks post-induction) and DG (8-12 weeks) mice showing higher 1-butanol levels than the controls. Two VOCs (2,4-dimethyl-1-heptene and 4-methylheptane) formed a potential treatment-response biomarker panel associated with improved gastric emptying, and the classification model achieved an area under the curve of 0.83 in distinguishing stimulated from non-stimulated states. Our data identified Na(v)1.8-expressing neurons as potential modulators of gastric motility and exhaled VOC patterns as exploratory non-invasive markers of disease dynamics, offering a proof-of-concept framework for neuro-modulatory and breath-test-based strategies to monitor and manage gastroparesis. |
