Anhedonia

Depression is a common affective disorder that represents a heavy burden on communities. Psychobiotics, the emerging group of probiotics and postbiotics that affect brain function and mental health have shown promising results in alleviating symptoms of depression. Postbiotics, bioactive compounds released by/or produced through the metabolic activity of the microbiota, provide various beneficial effects for the host, including antidepressive ones. This study aimed to evaluate antidepressive potential of postbiotic obtained from GABA-producing B. adolescentis NGB329. We tested whether this pos

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a widespread mental health condition affecting over 280 million people worldwide and is a major contributor to the global burden of disease. Despite selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) being the first line of treatment for MDD, 30-40% of patients do not achieve remission, with chronic low-level inflammation linked to treatment resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen compared to the SSRI fluoxetine in a mouse model of inflamed depression. The objective was to explore whether anti-inflammatory dr

Ketamine, a rapid acting antidepressant ( Zarate et al. 2006), induces acute hippocampal volumetric changes ( Höflich et al. 2021). Considering the observed link between major depressive disorder (MDD) and a lower hippocampal volume (MacQueen et al. 2011), investigating ketamine-induced neuroplastic changes in this region may contribute to understand treatment effects.In a placebo-controlled, single-blind, crossover study 36 healthy subjects (17males, 23.8±3.75 years) received either 0.5mg/kg racemic ketamine or placebo 4 hours before MRI scans. FreeSurfer7.1 was used for the hippocampal subfi

…categories: passive coping strategies, anhedonia, and social impairment.The use of animal models can help to explore these symptoms and investigate their underlying mechanisms, such as oxytocinergic and opioids alterations within the mesocorticolimbic circuit.Exposure to Early Life Adversities (ELA), including Attachment Bond Disruption and Adverse Childhood Experiences, such as Neglect, represents one of the most important risk factors for development of MMD.To model attachment disrupt

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is usually thought of as a motor disorder, although non-motor symptoms may precede the motor manifestations and are a key component of the PD. Among these, depression and anxiety are most prevalent symptoms and caused a greater symptomatic burden in women than in men. A dysfunctional serotonin (5-HT) system is generally considered a risk factor for depression. We propose the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)-dorsal raphe nucleus (DR) circuit as the key player underlying depressive/anxious disorders in PD, by virtue of its reciprocal connectivity. Female mice overe

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) poses a global burden, affecting over 300 million individuals and presenting a significant therapeutic challenge due to the limited efficacy of conventional antidepressants. The investigation of rapid-acting antidepressants, exemplified by ketamine, has garnered attention, yet the intricate underlying processes remain incompletely understood.This study systematically evaluated the acute effects of ketamine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) and fluoxetine (3 x 10 mg/kg, i.p.) on depression-like behavior in animal models subjected to chronic restraint stress (CRS, 6 weeks) and chr

…aspects of the disease such as anhedonia and increased passive coping. However, the temporal emergence of these features and the cellular underpinnings remain unclear. Thus, we assessed the emer

…loss of interest, low mood, and anhedonia. Depression has been ranked as the third cause of the burden of disease worldwide in 2008 by the World Health Organization WHO. Depression molecular etiology is complex and still not fully understood. Common limitations of gold standard small molecule drugs include poor efficacy, off target side effects and difficult druggability of many targets. In this study we report a radically different approach deploying small engineered single domain antibodies (nanobody) tar

Food odours are perceived before consumption and trigger physiological responses (e.g., appetite, saliva, digestive enzymes) to help the body prepare for ingestion. Importantly, smell perception through the olfactory bulb (OB) increases when hungry. The mechanism linking metabolism and olfaction remains unknown, but there is converging evidence that the olfactory system is a target for metabolic hormones associated with food intake regulation and may adapt the olfactory system to nutritional needs by promoting or inhibiting food-seeking. Here, we looked at the hormone ghrelin as a signal of en

…symptoms such as depression and anhedonia. Most transgenic mouse models of PD, however, don’t exhibit clinically relevant dysbiosis. Here, for the first time, we present the GM composition and depression-like behavior in Hualpha-Syn(A53T) transgenic mice, line G2-3, which over-express human α-synuclein and are the only model of PD that exhibits prodromal constipation. Additionally, we investigated whether sharing social microenvironmen

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder, affecting approximately 280 million people worldwide (WHO, 2023). Most research on depression has focused only on neurons. However, astrocytes respond to neurotransmitter release from nearby neurons by elevating internal calcium levels and subsequent release of neuroactive transmitters, including ATP, D-serine, and GABA. These substances can then modulate synaptic activity. Although serotonin (5-HT) has been hypothesized to play a role in the development and manifestation of depression for decades, the precise mechanisms that

…depressive-like symptoms such as anhedonia and disturbed social behavior. These behavioral changes where parallele

…Anhedonia, the reduced ability to feel pleasure, is a core feature of mood disorders. However, how stress-induced changes in motivation to seek and consume rewards are represented in the activity patterns in the AMY and vHPC remains unclear. Furthermore, how these activity patterns can inform pathway-specific manipulations to rescue anhedonic behavior remains to be explored. Here, we used Neuropixels probes to recor

…to have higher levels of apathy and anhedonia than non-users. In this survey study, we measured apathy and anhedonia, before and after lockdown measures were implemented, in n = 256 adult and n = 200 adolescent cannabis users and n = 170 adult and n = 172 adolescent controls. Scores on the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES) and Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) were investigated