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. 2016 Aug 25;12:2149–2164. doi: 10.2147/NDT.S111818

Table 1.

Summary of studies published in the literature showing changes in the activation of different regions

Study Experimental groups Experimental treatment Effects
Epstein et al83 Healthy controls and MDD patients Presentation of positive and negative words • Diminished activation of ventral striatum in response to positive stimuli
• Diminished activation of DMPFC in response to positive stimuli
Admon et al133 Healthy controls and MDD patients Monetary incentive delay task • Decreased caudate–dACC connectivity in response to reward
Gabbay et al90 Healthy controls (adolescents) and MDD patients N/A • Increased striatum–DMPFC and ventral caudate–ACC connectivity
• ACC, supplementary motor area, and supramarginal gyrus connectivity associated with anhedonia severity
Heller et al91 Healthy controls and MDD patients Emotion regulation task • MDD patients were unable to sustain the activity in the NA in response to positive emotions
• MDD patients have reduced PFC activity
Mitterschiffthaler et al85 Healthy controls and MDD patients with anhedonia Presentation of positive images • Decreased activation in the medial frontal cortex
• Increased activation in the inferior frontal cortex, ACC, thalamus, putamen, and insula in response to positive stimuli
Light et al86 Healthy controls, MDD patients, and MDD patients treated with venlafaxine-ER or fluoxetine Emotion regulation task • MDD patients had a diminished ability to inhibit the reduction in the VLPFC activity during suppression of positive emotions
• Lowest VLPFC activity during suppression of positive emotions correlated with greatest reduction in anhedonia due to treatment
Harvey et al51 Healthy controls with various degrees of anhedonia Presentation of positive stimuli • Anhedonia inversely related to anterior caudate volume
• Positively related to VMPFC activity
Keller et al84 Healthy controls with various degrees of anhedonia Presentation of musical stimuli • Anhedonia negatively correlated with activation of NA, basal forebrain, hypothalamus, anterior insula, and orbitofrontal cortex
• Anhedonia negatively correlated with the connectivity between NA, VTA, and paralimbic areas
Pizzagalli et al89 Healthy controls and MDD patients with anhedonia Monetary incentive delay task • MDD patients had weaker responses to monetary gains in the NA and the caudate
• Severity of anhedonia and MDD associated with a reduced caudate volume
Wacker et al87 Healthy controls with anhedonia Monetary incentive delay task • Anhedonia correlated with reduced NA activation in response to reward
• Anhedonia correlated with reduced NA volume, increased resting activity in the rostral ACC
Keedwell et al11 MDD patients with varying degrees of anhedonia Presentation of happy and sad emotional stimuli • Anhedonia positively correlated with VMPFC activity
• Anhedonia negatively correlated with amygdala and ventral striatum activity

Abbreviations: MDD, major depressive disorder; DMPFC, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; dACC, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex; N/A, not applicable; ACC, anterior cingulate cortex; NA, nucleus accumbens; ER, extended release; VLPFC, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex; VMPFC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex; VTA, ventral tegmental area.