Electroconvulsive therapy effects on anhedonia and reward circuitry anatomy: A dimensional structural neuroimaging...

Anhedonia is a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) resulting from maladaptive reward processing. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for patients with MDD. No previous neuroimaging studies have taken a dimensional approach to assess whether ECT-induced volume changes are specifically related to improvements in anhedonia and positive valence emotional constructs. We aimed to assess the relationship between ECT-induced brain volumetric changes and improvement in anhedonia and reward processing in patients with MDD.

We evaluated 15 patients with MDD before and after ECT. We used magnetic resonance imaging, clinical scales (i.e., Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology for syndromal depression severity and Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale for anhedonia) and the Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale for anticipatory and consummatory experiences of pleasure. We identified 5 regions of interest within the reward circuit and a 6th control region relevant for MDD but not core to the reward system (Brodmann Area 25).

Anhedonia, anticipatory and consummatory reward processing improved after ECT. Volume increases within the right reward system separated anhedonia responders and non-responders. Improvement in anticipatory (but not consummatory) reward correlated with increases in volume in hippocampus, amygdala, ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens.

We evaluated a modest sample size of patients with concurrent pharmacological treatment using a subjective psychometric assessment.

We highlight the importance of a dimensional and circuit-based approach to understanding target engagement and the mechanism of action of ECT, with the goal to define symptom- and circuit-specific response biomarkers for device neuromodulation therapies.