Predicting Future Development of Stress-Induced Anhedonia From Cortical Dynamics and Facial Expression

TL;DR

This study explores how brain activity and facial expressions can predict stress-induced anhedonia in mice, offering insights into personalized mental health treatments.

Contribution

The study introduces a method to predict stress-induced anhedonia using cortical dynamics and facial expressions in mice.

Findings

Chronic mild stress reduces mPFC neural responses to rewards, which recovers after ketamine treatment.

mPFC valence-encoding properties can predict susceptibility to stress before behavioral changes occur.

Facial expressions during tasks predict whether mice will become resilient or susceptible to stress.

Abstract

The current state of mental health treatment for individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder leaves billions of individuals with first-line therapies that are ineffective or burdened with undesirable side effects. One major obstacle is that distinct pathologies may currently be diagnosed as the same disease and prescribed the same treatments. The key to developing antidepressants with ubiquitous efficacy is to first identify a strategy to differentiate between heterogeneous conditions. Major depression is characterized by hallmark features such as anhedonia and a loss of motivation1,2, and it has been recognized that even among inbred mice raised under identical housing conditions, we observe heterogeneity in their susceptibility and resilience to stress3. Anhedonia, a condition identified in multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, is described as the inability to experience pleasure and is linked to anomalous medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) activity4. The mPFC is responsible for higher order functions5–8, such as valence encoding; however, it remains unknown how mPFC valence-specific neuronal population activity is affected during anhedonic conditions. To test this, we implemented the unpredictable chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol9–11 in mice and examined hedonic behaviors following stress and ketamine treatment. We used unsupervised clustering to delineate individual variability in hedonic behavior in response to stress. We then performed in vivo 2-photon calcium imaging to longitudinally track mPFC valence-specific neuronal population dynamics during a Pavlovian discrimination task. Chronic mild stress mice exhibited a blunted effect in the ratio of mPFC neural population responses to rewards relative to punishments after stress that rebounds following ketamine treatment. Also, a linear classifier revealed that we can decode susceptibility to chronic mild stress based on mPFC valence-encoding properties prior to stress-exposure and behavioral expression of susceptibility. Lastly, we utilized markerless pose tracking computer vision tools to predict whether a mouse would become resilient or susceptible based on facial expressions during a Pavlovian discrimination task. These results indicate that mPFC valence encoding properties and behavior are predictive of anhedonic states. Altogether, these experiments point to the need for increased granularity in the measurement of both behavior and neural activity, as these factors can predict the predisposition to stress-induced anhedonia.

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