Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The brain reward circuitry in mood disorders

2013; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 14; Issue: 9 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/nrn3381

1471-0048

Scott J. Russo, Eric J. Nestler,

Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Recent evidence suggests that mood disorders are associated with altered reward function. Russo and Nestler review studies that have shown alterations in the brain reward circuitry in patients with, and animal models of, depression, and discuss the cellular and molecular underpinnings of these alterations. Mood disorders are common and debilitating conditions characterized in part by profound deficits in reward-related behavioural domains. A recent literature has identified important structural and functional alterations within the brain's reward circuitry — particularly in the ventral tegmental area–nucleus accumbens pathway — that are associated with symptoms such as anhedonia and aberrant reward-associated perception and memory. This Review synthesizes recent data from human and rodent studies from which emerges a circuit-level framework for understanding reward deficits in depression. We also discuss some of the molecular and cellular underpinnings of this framework, ranging from adaptations in glutamatergic synapses and neurotrophic factors to transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms.