Antidepressants that target serotonin levels in the gut could greatly improve treatment options for mood-related disorders, researchers from NYU and six other universities found in an April study. The research is paving the way for new anxiety and depression medications that eliminate key side effects of traditional options.
In the study, scientists from Columbia University, Duke University and other institutions disputed long-standing beliefs that antidepressants — which manipulate the body’s serotonin levels — must act directly on the brain to be effective. Instead, they found the intestinal epithelium naturally produces almost all of the body’s serotonin.
Kara Margolis, the director of NYU’s Pain Research Center who co-led the study, said that the team found that boosting serotonin signaling specifically in these areas could yield the same benefits as widely-used antidepressants while avoiding common side effects — namely gastrointestinal problems like nausea and abdominal pain.
“This was paradigm shifting and thinking, because it’s always been thought that psychiatric medications really target the brain to modulate brain centric disorders,” Margolis said in an interview with WSN. “The idea that if you can create something that doesn’t go to the brain directly — and that doesn’t go to the blood — that you may eliminate a lot of the side effects that are caused by the traditional SSRIs.”
Margolis also said that the study has important implications for anxiety and depression treatment during pregnancy. In pregnant people, traditional antidepressants can pass through the placenta within the womb and enter the fetal bloodstream, raising concerns about the impact on fetal development. However, Margolis emphasized that current medication options remain crucial options for pregnant people, as untreated anxiety and depression poses risks for both the parent and child.
Looking ahead, Margolis said that researchers have begun developing antidepressants that can specifically target serotonin production in the gut. They are also aiming to translate their findings into creating more effective therapy treatments for mood-related disorders.
“SSRIs are among the best drugs that we have right now to treat maternal depression,” Margolis said. “It shouldn’t necessarily be your first line — there are other things like cognitive behavioral therapy which work very well for anxiety and depression — but if they need the medicine, they should absolutely take it. Much of the goal of this study was to figure out why SSRIs may be causing these issues and to try to build a next generation better working mood modulator.”
Contact Vaishnavi Girish at news@nyunews.com.
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