IMH Seminar Series – From bowel to brain: the translational journey of an anti-constipation agent into mental health?

Registration for online

Abstract

Problems with cognition (thinking, learning, and memory) are common across psychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. These impairments are partly independent of core mood and psychotic symptoms, predict poorer outcomes, and are a major determinant of day‑to‑day functioning. However, there are few effective treatments that target cognition directly.

The 5‑HT4 receptor is an underexplored serotonergic target with promising pro‑cognitive effects in preclinical models. We already have well-tolerated 5‑HT4 receptor agonists licensed as laxatives, offering a potential opportunity to repurpose these in psychiatry.

I will cover emerging evidence from experimental medicine studies and large‑scale electronic health records evaluating the cognitive and clinical effects of 5‑HT4 agonists in humans. I will then outline how these early findings can inform a translational pipeline for repurposing licensed medications into mental health, and discuss implications for future clinical trials.

Speaker biography

Dr Angharad de Cates is a NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham, and an Honorary Member of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford. Angharad completed a Wellcome Trust funded DPhil and a Guarantors of Brain Clinical Postdoctoral Fellowship at Oxford, alongside clinical training in the West Midlands. She works clinically as an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist while continuing her research supported by the NIHR with a Clinical Lectureship. Her main area of research involves investigating the neurocognitive underpinnings of depression and psychosis, including how these factors impact prognosis, interact with existing treatments, and inform the development of novel and repurposed treatments.