Psychiatry Career and Resource Center

Depression and gastrointestinal distress often go hand in hand. Because low levels of serotonin in the brain have been linked to depression, and serotonin is also used by neurons in the gut, a team of researchers from Columbia and Duke universities set out to study the relationship between serotonin shortage and constipation in mice and found that serotonin shortage in the gut indeed reduced the number of neurons in the gut. Further study has led to an experimental treatment that not only increases the number of GI neurons but could also simultaneously treat brain and gut conditions. Clinical studies are planned for testing in people with treatment-resistant depression.

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