Contrasting roles of the P2X4 receptor in inflammatory bowel disease

[...]the gut microbiota of control-treated P2rx4 KO and WT mice were similar, indicating that the absence of P2X4 does not disrupt normal microbiota and providing the main phenotypic comparison of this P2rx4 KO mouse strain to WT mice. [...]antibiotic treatment prior to the induction of colitis attenuated the exacerbation of disease in P2rx4 KO mice, with colitis like that of WT mice. [...]it should be noted that the findings of Zhong et al. contrast two previous colitis studies (Figure ). In the other prior study, the selective P2X4 antagonists, NC-2600 and NP-1815-PX, attenuated 2,4-dintrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced colitis in rats, again indicating a role for P2X4 in promoting colitis and with the authors concluding that blockade of P2X4 may be a therapeutic option in the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases. [...]the study of Zhong et al. highlights the importance of P2X4 in the gut but given the opposing conclusions of the two earlier studies of colitis the precise role of P2X4 in inflammatory bowel disorders remains to be resolved.