Affective biases and their interaction with other reward-related deficits in rodent models of psychiatric disorders.

Affective biases and their interaction with other reward-related deficits in rodent models of psychiatric disorders. Behav Brain Res. 2019 Jul 02;:112051 Authors: Lewis LR, Benn A, Dwyer DM, Robinson ESJ Abstract Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the leading global causes of disability. Symptoms of MDD can vary person to person, and current treatments often fail to alleviate the poor quality of life that patients experience. One of the two, core diagnostic criteria for MDD is the loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, which suggests a link between the disease aetiology and reward processing. Cognitive impairments are also common in patients with MDD, and more recently, emotional processing deficits known as affective biases have been recognised as a key feature of the disorder. Studies in animals have found similar affective biases related to reward. In this review we consider these affective biases in the context of other reward-related deficits and examine how affective biases associated with learning and memory may interact with the wider behavioural symptoms seen in MDD. We discuss recent developments in how analogues of affective biases and other aspects of reward processing can be assessed in rodents, as well as how these behaviours are influenced in models of MDD. We subsequently discuss evidence for the neurobiological mechanisms contributing to one or more reward-related deficits in preclinical models...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research