Wear and tear of the intestinal visceral musculature by intrinsic and extrinsic factors

Background The gut visceral musculature plays essential roles in not only moving substances through the lumen but also maintaining the function and physiology of the gut. Although the development of the visceral musculature has been studied in multiple model organisms, how it degenerates is poorly understood. Results Here, we employ the Drosophila midgut as a model to demonstrate that the visceral musculature is disrupted by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as aging, feeding, chemical‐induced tissue damage, and oncogenic transformation in the epithelium. Notably, we define four prominent visceral musculature disruption phenotypes, which we refer as “sprout,” “discontinuity,” “furcation,” and “crossover” of the longitudinal muscle. Given that the occurrence of these phenotypes is increased during aging and under various stresses, we propose that these phenotypes can be used as quantitative readouts of deterioration of the visceral musculature. Intriguingly, administration of a tissue‐damaging chemical dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) induced similar visceral musculature disruption phenotypes in zebrafish larvae, indicating that ingestion of a tissue‐damaging chemical can disrupt the visceral musculature in a vertebrate as well. Conclusions Our study provides insights into the deterioration of the gut visceral musculature and lays a groundwork for investigating the underlying mechanisms in Drosophila as well as other animals. Key Findings Stresses can induce visceral muscle degeneration in Drosophila. We define four visceral musculature disruption phenotypes. Similar visceral musculature disruption phenotypes are observed in zebrafish larvae. Phenotypes in the visceral musculature can be used as deterioration markers.