ABSTRACT
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, recurrent, non-specific inflammatory disease with unknown etiology. The vagus nerve and its cholinergic receptors, including nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and muscarinic acetylcholine receptor, are involved in inhibiting intestinal inflammation, regulating intestinal epithelial barrier permeability, regulating intestinal stem cell proliferation and differentiation, and play an important role in the pathogenesis of IBD. Whether there is a correlation between intestinal microbiota dysbiosis and vagus nerve structure remodeling，signal transduction changing remains to be explored. The therapeutic strategies targeting the vagus nerve and its cholinergic receptors including vagus nerve stimulation and nicotine are still being studied. This article reviewed the progress of research on vagus nerve and its cholinergic receptors in IBD.