Annual Research Review: Puberty and the development of anhedonia – considering childhood adversity and inflammation

Abstract

Anhedonia, or diminished pleasure and motivation, is a symptom of severe mental illness (e.g., depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia) that emerges during adolescence. Anhedonia is a pernicious symptom that is related to social impairments, treatment resistance, and suicide. As the mechanisms of anhedonia are postulated to include the frontostriatal circuitry and the dopamine neuromodulatory system, the development and plasticity of these systems during the vulnerable period of adolescence, as well as their sensitivity to pubertal hormones, suggest that pubertal maturation could play a role in the development of anhedonia. This review takes a developmental perspective, considering the possibility that anhedonia emerges in the context of pubertal maturation and adolescent development, with childhood adversity and chronic inflammation influencing neural reward systems to accelerate anhedonia's progression. Here, we review the relevant extant literature on the components of this model and suggest directions for future research.

Brain alterations in adolescents with first-episode depression who have experienced adverse events: evidence from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging

“…However, after adolescence mice experienced early life stress, the thyroid hormone signal transduction development was defective, which further affected the development of ventral tegmental area ( 37 ). Other hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, could also affect the neurotransmission of dopamine, which in turn further impact the maturation of neural circuitry and cognitive processing in adolescence ( 38 ). This may be one of the reasons for a large number of female suffering from depression among adolescents, suggesting that the pathological mechanism of hormonal changes related to stress environmental sensitivity in depression should be considered ( 39 ).…”

Understanding the paradox: anhedonia and the unexpected divergence from reward seeking during adolescence – A commentary on Gupta et al. (2024)

“…That is, why would anhedonia onset precisely at a time in human development when individuals are most inclined to seek out and pursue pleasures and rewards? Initial answers to this question may emerge from considering two relatively universal, and potentially intertwined, changes that occur in adolescencebrain maturation and pubertal maturation as proposed by Gupta, Eckstrand, and Forbes (2024) in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Annual Research Review issue.…”