Levodopa, a drug commonly prescribed for the treatment of Parkinson's disease that increases dopamine in the brain was found to reverse the effects of neuroinflammation on the reward system and improve symptoms associated with depression.
A new study identifies a novel neural network regulating feeding and mood in response to chronic stress. Inhibiting the POMC to ventral tegmental area circuit increases body weight and food intake while reducing depressive symptoms in mouse models.
A new rodent study uncovers a neural circuit in the brain that appears to govern pain-induced anhedonia. Altering the activity of this circuit restored motivation in pre-clinical models of pain.
In depressed people, the habenula functions abnormally, a new study reports.
Researchers report cognitive bias modification may be a useful method for treating depression.
Using fMRI to examine the brains of children while resting, researchers discover anhedonia is associated with hyperconnectivity between the cingulo-opercular network and ventral striatum.
The latest Silicon Valley crazy of dopamine fasting promises to "reset" the brain to be more effective and appreciate the smaller things in life more easily, but does it work? Researchers look at the effect of dopamine fasting on brain health.
Patients with schizophrenia, but not those with social anhedonia, exhibited deficits in real-life social network size. Those with schizophrenia and those with social anhedonia had reversals functional connectivity to one another. People with schizophrenia showed decreased segregation and functional connectivity in brain areas associated with social behaviors, while those with social anhedonia had an increase in connectivity and segregation.
What we find pleasurable may be down to our genetics. Researchers found nucleus accumbens activation and physical anhedonia were influenced by shared genes. The experience of pleasure and physical anhedonia also appear to share some of the same genes.
Researchers explain the neural mechanisms behind a person's lack of sensitivity to music.
People with schizophrenia and social anhedonia exhibit altered neural processing for social reward processing, leading to impaired social interaction and social dysfunction.
Researchers have identified an exceptional mouse model of schizophrenia. The study identified a mutant mouse lacking the Schnurri-2 protein (Shn-2 KO) that exhibits behavioral deficits and other brain features consistent with schizophrenia.
