Targeting gut cells may open new way to reduce depression & anxiety

New Delhi, Dec 12 (IANS) Developing antidepressant medications that target cells in the gut may open a novel path towards effective treatment of mood disorders like depression and anxiety, finds a study. Targeting gut cells may open new ways to reduce depression and anxiety.

These gut-targeting medications may also lead to fewer cognitive, gastrointestinal, and behavioral side effects for patients and their children than current treatments.

“Antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft that raise serotonin levels are important first-line treatments and help many patients but can sometimes cause side effects that patients can’t tolerate,” said Mark Ansorge, Associate Professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University Vagelos.

Ansorge noted that the study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, suggests that limiting these drugs “to interact only with intestinal cells could avoid these issues”.

Further, the team noted that the novel approach may also help pregnant women, without exposing the child.

Antidepressants that raise serotonin (called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) -- the first-line pharmacological treatments for anxiety and depression for over 30 years -- are known to cross the placenta and increase problems related to mood, cognitive, and gastrointestinal later in childhood.

On the other hand, leaving depression untreated during pregnancy “also comes with risks to the children,” Ansorge said. “An SSRI that selectively raises serotonin in the intestine could be a better alternative.”

Notably, Serotonin is also produced outside the brain, largely in cells that line the intestines. “In fact, 90 per cent of our bodies’ serotonin is in the gut,” said the team.

This knowledge raises the possibility that increasing serotonin signaling in the gut may impact gut-brain communication and ultimately mood, they noted while testing its possibility in mice.

They found that increasing intestinal serotonin reduces anxiety, and depressive behaviors in mice

“These results suggest that SSRIs produce therapeutic effects by working directly in the gut,” Ansorge said.

The animals also displayed none of the cognitive or gastrointestinal side effects commonly seen in patients taking SSRIs or in mice with increased serotonin signaling throughout their entire bodies.