Harvard University: When stress is a punch to the gut
- May 19
- 1 min read
When stress affects the gut, the stomach tightens, digestion slows. For some, these symptoms resolve quickly. For others — particularly people with constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-C) and related conditions — they don’t.
In a new study, investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) show how stress hormones directly interfere with gut function, slowing digestion through a newly defined pathway. In preclinical models, the findings point toward a potential way to treat stress-associated constipation.
Led by corresponding author Subhash Kulkarni, Harvard Medical School assistant professor of medicine and principal investigator in the Division of Gastroenterology at BIDMC, the study’s findings are published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
