An animal model of anhedonia: attenuation of sucrose consumption and place preference conditioning by chronic unpredictable mild stress

Chronic exposure to very mild unpredictable stress has previously been found to depress the consumption of, and preference for, highly palatable sweet solutions. The present study used the place conditioning procedure to investigate whether these effects result from a decreased sensitivity to reward. Rats were subjected to chronic mild unpredictable stress for a total of 4 weeks. During weeks 3 and 4, they received four training trials, in which rewards were presented in a distinctive environment, and four further non-rewarded trials in a different environment. The rewards used in different experiments were food pellets, dilute (0.7%) and concentrated (34%) sucrose solutions, anddl-amphetamine sulphate (0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg). In all experiments, non-stressed animals showed an increase in preference for the environment associated with reward; in stressed animals, these effects were abolished or greatly attenuated. Chronic unpredictable mild stress, which may be comparable in intensity to the difficulties people encounter in their daily lives, appears to cause a generalized decrease in sensitivity to rewards.