Effects of inescapable stress on responses to social incentive stimuli and modulation by escitalopram

Stress is a well-known risk factor for anhedonia, and its impacts on social reward functions may be mitigated by its controllability. Moreover, there are questions about the effectiveness of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on improving social hedonic functioning deficits characteristic of major depression.

The current study in male Sprague-Dawley rats investigated the effects of uncontrollable stress on responses to social incentive stimuli and possible modulation by the SSRI escitalopram (ESC).

The effects of inescapable foot-shocks on preferential responses to a conspecific, and to a compartment that was previously paired with the presence of a conspecific, were assessed in a Y-apparatus in rats that received 0, 5, or 10 mg/kg ESC.

Although inescapable foot-shock exposure did not significantly alter the investigation of the conspecific, it did impair the response to the social-paired compartment and, importantly, this impairment was reversed by ESC.

These results indicate that psychophysical stress can negatively impact reactivity to learned social rewards and that SSRI administration can have positive therapeutic effects.