Question: do the guts keep moving after being removed as they have there own mini brain and nervous system

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  1. Hi matthew1!

    If the digestive system is removed from the body, it will continue to move as long as the tissue is kept alive by keeping it in a bath of physiological saline (electrolytes your body uses- like in powerade), at the right temperature and with fresh oxygen.

    The gut will continue to receive information from nerve cells in the enteric nervous system (ENS) inside the muscle layers in the gut wall. These nerve cells/neurons detect changes to the environment inside. The gut can also detect movements or if chemicals are present. This information makes the muscle move to contract and relax and that helps to push food along the intestine- even if it’s been removed from the rest of the body!

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