Stress can dull our capacity for joy: mouse brain patterns hint at why

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Communication between neurons (illustration) in two separate brain regions is patchy in mice that are susceptible to severe stress. Credit: Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library

Joylessness triggered by stress creates a distinct brain signature, according to research in mice1. The study also reveals one brain pattern that seems to confer resilience to stress ― and another that makes stressed animals less likely to feel pleasure, a core symptom of depression.

These findings, published today in Nature, offer clues as to how the brain gives rise to anhedonia, a resistance to enjoyment and pleasure. The results also provide a new avenue for treating the condition ― if the findings are validated in humans.

“Their approach in this study is spot on,” says Conor Liston, a neuroscientist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, who was not involved in the work. The experiments fill “a big gap”, he says. “Anhedonia is something we don’t understand very well.”

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