Digestive Diseases Research

Larauche Laboratory

Dr. Muriel Larauche

Key investigator

Muriel Larauche, PhD

Overview of research

Dr. Larauche’s primary research focus is to elucidate the mechanisms by which stress influences the brain-gut axis and visceral pain differentially in males and females, as a crucial step toward understanding irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) pathophysiology and improving health care. Her studies place a special emphasis on recruitment of peripheral pathways (enteric nervous system, epithelial permeability, gut neuroimmune system) and the contribution of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system. In collaboration with Dr. Lin Chang, she has been able to move her preclinical research activities toward translational approaches using biological samples from IBS patients recruited from the community. In parallel, as assistant director of the Division of Digestive Diseases Animal Model Core, her research activities also involve the development of new rodent models of visceral pain and stress. Among her latest achievements, she developed a novel technique to monitor visceral sensitivity in mice and rats non-invasively. With these tools and approaches, she was able to demonstrate for the first time the development of stress-induced visceral analgesia in rodents, which is affected by the technique used for visceral pain monitoring and by a previous exposure to early life stress. More recently, she expanded her research focus to the functional mapping of the autonomic neural circuits to the gut and the pain circuitries of the colon and bladder in porcine models and the impact of vagal and sacral neuromodulation on colonic motility in a model of opioid-induced constipation in pig.

Current research projects

  • Determination of central and peripheral mechanisms underlying stress-induced visceral analgesia
  • Influence of sex and stress on gastrointestinal epithelial permeability
  • Use of neuromodulation for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation and gut dysmotility
  • Neuronal pathways of cross-organ (colon/bladder) sensitization

Future directions

  • Novel mechanisms in stress-induced modulation of gut inflammation

Funding and support

  • NIH U41NS129514 supplement (2024-2025) (Co-investigator: Larauche)
  • HEAL U01NS113871 201 (2019-2024) (Lead Project 3: Larauche)
  • SPARC OT2 OD025297 01S3 (2020-2021) (Co-investigator: Larauche)
  • SPARC OT2 OD024899 (2017-2024) (Co-investigator: Larauche)
  • NSF 2052272 (2021-2023) SBIR Phase II (Co-investigator: Larauche)
  • NSF 1938625 (2020) SBIR Phase I (Co-investigator: Larauche)
  • NIH NIDDK R44DK116362 (2019-2021) SBIR Phase IIa (MPI: Larauche)
  • NIH NIDDK R43DK116362 (2018-2019) SBIR Phase I (UCLA PI: Larauche)
  • NIH NIDDK K01 DK088937, 2011-2015 (PI: Larauche)

Honors, awards

  • Member - Rome V: Patient Experience, Gender, Age, and Social Determinants of Health Committee. (2021 -2026)
  • International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD) Junior Investigator – Basic Science Award, Milwaukee, WI, USA (2013)

In the news

  • Muriel Larauche, PhD, Awarded NIH SBIR Phase II Grant. Dr. Larauche is leading a new study to investigate and validate the use of small peptides that target the visceral pain in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Full story

Publications (selected) Complete list in My Bibliography)

  1. Larauche M, Mahurkar-Joshi S, Biraud M, Ju T, Mayer EA, Chang L. Sex-dependent alterations of colonic epithelial permeability: Relevance to irritable bowel syndrome. Front Physiol. Gastrointestinal Sciences. 2025 Volume 16, doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1509935
  2. Larauche M, Mulak A, Ha C, Million M, Arnett S, Germano P, Pearson JP, Currie MG, Taché Y. FAAH inhibitor URB597 shows anti-hyperalgesic action and increases brain and intestinal tissues fatty acid amides in a model of CRF1 agonist mediated visceral hypersensitivity in male rats. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2024 Dec;36(12):e14927. doi: 10.1111/nmo.14927. Epub 2024 Sep 30. PMID: 39344695. Free PMC article.
  3. Larauche M, Kim YS, Mulak A, Duboc H, Taché Y. Intracerebroventricular administration of TRH Agonist, RX-77368 alleviates visceral pain induced by colorectal distension in rats. Peptides. 2024 May;175:171181. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2024.171181. Epub 2024 Feb 27. PMID: 38423212. Free article.
  4. Yuan PQ, Li T, Million M, Larauche M, Atmani K, Bellier JP, Taché Y. New insight on the enteric cholinergic innervation of the pig colon by central and peripheral nervous systems: reduction by repeated loperamide administration. Front Neurosci. 2023 Aug 15;17:1204233. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1204233. eCollection 2023. PMID: 37650102. Free PMC article.
  5. Larauche M, Erchegyi J, Miller C, Sim MS, Rivier J, Behan D, Taché Y. Peripheral CRF-R1/CRF-R2 antagonist, astressin C, induces a long-lasting blockade of acute stress-related visceral pain in male and female rats. Peptides. 2022 Nov;157:170881. doi: 10.1016/j.peptides.2022.170881. Epub 2022 Sep 19. PMID: 36185037. Free PMC article.
  6. Larauche M, Wang Y, Wang PM, Dubrovsky G, Lo YK, Hsiang EL, Dunn JCY, Taché Y, Liu W, Million M. The effect of colonic tissue electrical stimulation and celiac branch of the abdominal vagus nerve neuromodulation on colonic motility in anesthetized pigs. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2020 Nov;32(11):e13925. doi: 10.1111/nmo.13925. Epub 2020 Jun 23. PMID: 32578346. Free PMC article.
  7. Larauche M, Moussaoui N, Biraud M, Bae WK, Duboc H, Million M, Taché Y. Brain corticotropin-releasing factor signaling: Involvement in acute stress-induced visceral analgesia in male rats. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2019 Feb;31(2):e13489. doi: 10.1111/nmo.13489. Epub 2018 Oct 9. PMID: 30298965. Free PMC article.
  8. Moussaoui N, Jacobs JP, Larauche M, Biraud M, Million M, Mayer E, Taché Y. Chronic Early-life Stress in Rat Pups Alters Basal Corticosterone, Intestinal Permeability, and Fecal Microbiota at Weaning: Influence of Sex. J Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2017 Jan 30;23(1):135-143. doi: 10.5056/jnm16105. PMID: 27829577. Free PMC article.
  9. Duboc H, Tolstanova G, Yuan PQ, Wu V, Kaji I, Biraud M, Akiba Y, Kaunitz J, Million M, Tache Y, Larauche M. Reduction of epithelial secretion in male rat distal colonic mucosa by bile acid receptor TGR5 agonist, INT-777: role of submucosal neurons. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2016 Nov;28(11):1663-1676. doi: 10.1111/nmo.12866. Epub 2016 Jun 3.PMID: 27259385. Free PMC article.
  10. Larauche M, Mulak A, Kim YS, Labus J, Million M, Taché Y. Visceral analgesia induced by acute and repeated water avoidance stress in rats: sex difference in opioid involvement. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2012 Nov;24(11):1031-e547. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2982.2012.01980.x. Epub 2012 Jul 9. PMID: 22776034. Free PMC article.
  11. Larauche M, Gourcerol G, Million M, Adelson DW, Taché Y. Repeated psychological stress-induced alterations of visceral sensitivity and colonic motor functions in mice: influence of surgery and postoperative single housing on visceromotor responses. Stress. 2010 Jul;13(4):343-54. doi: 10.3109/10253891003664166. PMID: 20536336. Free PMC article.
  12. Meriwether D, Sulaiman D, Volpe C, Dorfman A, Grijalva V, Dorreh N, Solorzano-Vargas RS, Wang J, O'Connor E, Papesh J, Larauche M, Trost H, Palgunachari MN, Anantharamaiah GM, Herschman HR, Martin MG, Fogelman AM, Reddy ST. Apolipoprotein A-I mimetics mitigate intestinal inflammation in COX2-dependent inflammatory bowel disease model. J Clin Invest. 2019 Jun 11;129(9):3670-3685. doi: 10.1172/JCI123700. PMID: 31184596. Free PMC article.
  13. Rolland-Fourcade C, Denadai-Souza A, Cirillo C, Lopez C, Jaramillo JO, Desormeaux C, Cenac N, Motta JP, Larauche M, Taché Y, Vanden Berghe P, Neunlist M, Coron E, Kirzin S, Portier G, Bonnet D, Alric L, Vanner S, Deraison C, Vergnolle N. Epithelial expression and function of trypsin-3 in irritable bowel syndrome. Gut. 2017 Oct;66(10):1767-1778. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312094. Epub 2017 Jan 17. PMID: 28096305. Free PMC article.
  14. Million M, Larauche M. Stress, sex, and the enteric nervous system. Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2016 Sep;28(9):1283-9. doi: 10.1111/nmo.12937. PMID: 27561694. Free PMC article. Review.
  15. Mulak A, Taché Y, Larauche M. Sex hormones in the modulation of irritable bowel syndrome. World J Gastroenterol. 2014 Mar 14;20(10):2433-48. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i10.2433. PMID: 24627581. Free PMC article. Review.

About Dr. Larauche

Dr. Larauche obtained her PhD in France in 2003, in the Neurogastroenterology and Motility Unit at INRA, Toulouse, headed by two pioneers of the brain-gut axis research, the late Drs. Lionel Bueno and Jean Fioramonti. She then came to UCLA to pursue her research as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Drs. Emeran Mayer and Yvette Taché, before being appointed as faculty in the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases in 2009. Dr. Larauche has been the recipient of the 2013 Award for Junior Investigator in Basic Science from the International Foundation for Functional Gut Diseases (IFFGD) as well as NIH NIDDK T32, K01 and SBIR awards and multiple investigator-initiated grants with pharma. Dr. Larauche’s works include more than 40 original research articles, eight review articles, and four book chapters. She serves as editorial board member of Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Frontiers in Neuroscience (Autonomic Neurosciences), Frontiers in Pharmacology (Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Pharmacology), Frontiers in Physiology (Autonomic Neuroscience) and Frontiers in Pain Research (Abdominal and Pelvic Pain). She is also a member of the Rome V Patient Experience, Gender, Age, Race and Social Determinants of Health Committee.

Contact us

For more information, please email Dr. Larauche at [email protected]

If you are interested in joining our research group, please include a cover letter detailing your relevant accomplishments and your CV.