[Anhedonia: from clinical practice to biomarkers].
Medecine sciences : M/S May 1, 2025 Antoine Yrondi, Romain Rey, Linda Scoriels et al.
Anhedonia involves reduced pleasure, motivation, and reward learning, and while traditionally linked to dopamine, recent evidence indicates that immune-inflammatory changes in psychiatric disorders also contribute. Inflammation affects dopamine, glutamate, and opioid pathways, plus cellular immune responses like mTOR signaling, disrupting reward and motor circuits in the brain. This leads to anhedonia and psychomotor slowing. Animal models confirm that chronic inflammation lowers motivation, modeling anhedonia. These disruptions occur across psychotic, mood, and neurodevelopmental disorders, not just one condition. This shared dimension suggests targeted treatments may include dopaminergic drugs, glutamatergic agents like ketamine, anti-inflammatory therapies, and novel molecules.