Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with women being twice as likely as men to be affected. Beyond reduced activity and motivation, depression is associated with a negative hedonic bias: patients perceive sensory stimuli as less pleasant. However, the neurobiological foundations of disrupted emotional processing and whether they differ between sexes remain poorly understood. In rodents, basolateral amygdala (BLA) circuits play a major role in valence assignment, with pathways responding to positive or negative stimuli. Specifically, BLA-to-Nucleus-Accumbens (NAc) neurons encode emotional valence thereby shaping learning, motivation and action selection. Our objective is thus to elucidate the role of BLA-to-NAc neurons in driving depressive-like phenotype in both sexes.
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