Effect of Pramipexole on Nucleus Accumbens Resting State Functional Connectivity in Anhedonia – an fMRI Study
(2026) PSYK12 20252Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Anhedonia, reduced motivation to experience pleasure, is associated with alterations in the circuitry of the reward system. Located in the ventral striatum, the bilateral nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is the central hub of this network where dopamine acts as the main excitatory neurotransmitter. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found that activity in the ventral striatum is decreased during reward processing in subjects with anhedonia. Pramipexole, a dopamine agonist commonly prescribed for Parkinson's disease, targets the reward circuitry and has been successful in decreasing the reward-related pathophysiology in anhedonic subjects. In the present study, fMRI resting state data from anhedonic subjects, randomized to... (More)
- Anhedonia, reduced motivation to experience pleasure, is associated with alterations in the circuitry of the reward system. Located in the ventral striatum, the bilateral nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is the central hub of this network where dopamine acts as the main excitatory neurotransmitter. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found that activity in the ventral striatum is decreased during reward processing in subjects with anhedonia. Pramipexole, a dopamine agonist commonly prescribed for Parkinson's disease, targets the reward circuitry and has been successful in decreasing the reward-related pathophysiology in anhedonic subjects. In the present study, fMRI resting state data from anhedonic subjects, randomized to treatment with pramipexole (N_pramipexole=23) or a placebo (N_placebo=21), acquired before and after 9 weeks of treatment, were analyzed. The goal was to assess the effect of pramipexole treatment on bilateral NAcc resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). RsFC is a measure of the temporal correlation of spontaneous fluctuations in blood circulation between brain regions in a subject while at rest. Small clusters of significant differences in NAcc rsFC were identified in the hippocampus/thalamus region constituting the main effects of treatment and time. No significant interaction between treatment x time was observed, indicating that no enhancement of the rsFC of the bilateral NAcc could be detected for pramipexole relative to placebo treatment. Future studies could increase sample size and treatment duration, and adopt an hypothesis-driven approach focusing on NAcc connectivity with selected regions to increase the sensitivity to detect treatment effects of pramipexole. (Less)
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Anhedoni, minskad motivation att uppleva lust, är associerad med förändringar i
belöningssystemet. Belägen i ventrala striatum utgör den bilaterala nucleus accumbens (NAcc) den centrala noden i detta nätverk, där dopamin agerar som huvudsaklig excitatorisk neurotransmitter. Studier med funktionell magnetresonanstomografi (fMRI) har visat att aktiviteten i ventrala striatum minskar under belöningsbearbetning hos individer med anhedoni. Pramipexol, en dopaminagonist som ofta förskrivs vid Parkinsons sjukdom, riktar sig mot belöningskretsarna och har visat sig minska belöningsrelaterad patologisk funktion hos individer med anhedoni. I denna studie analyserades fMRI-data mätt i vilotillstånd på individer med anhedoni, randomiserade till... (More) - Anhedoni, minskad motivation att uppleva lust, är associerad med förändringar i
belöningssystemet. Belägen i ventrala striatum utgör den bilaterala nucleus accumbens (NAcc) den centrala noden i detta nätverk, där dopamin agerar som huvudsaklig excitatorisk neurotransmitter. Studier med funktionell magnetresonanstomografi (fMRI) har visat att aktiviteten i ventrala striatum minskar under belöningsbearbetning hos individer med anhedoni. Pramipexol, en dopaminagonist som ofta förskrivs vid Parkinsons sjukdom, riktar sig mot belöningskretsarna och har visat sig minska belöningsrelaterad patologisk funktion hos individer med anhedoni. I denna studie analyserades fMRI-data mätt i vilotillstånd på individer med anhedoni, randomiserade till behandling med pramipexol (Npramipexol=23) eller placebo (Nplacebo=21), insamlade före och efter nio veckors behandling. Syftet var att undersöka effekten av pramipexol på funktionell konnektivitet i vilotillstånd (rsFC) i den bilaterala NAcc. RsFC mäter den tidsmässiga korrelationen av spontana variationer i blodflöde mellan hjärnregioner hos en individ i vila. Små kluster med signifikanta skillnader i NAcc rsFC identifierades i hippocampus/thalamus-regionen, vilket utgör huvudeffekterna av behandling och tid. Ingen signifikant behandling × tid-interaktion observerades, vilket indikerar att ingen förstärkning av rsFC i den bilaterala NAcc kunde påvisas för pramipexol jämfört med placebobehandling. Framtida studier kan öka urvalsstorlek och behandlingstid samt tillämpa en hypotesdriven ansats med fokus på NAcc kopplingar till utvalda regioner för att öka känsligheten att detektera behandlingseffekter av pramipexol. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9219710
- author
- Leijnse, Natascha LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- PSYK12 20252
- year
- 2026
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Anhedonia, Pramipexole, Reward System, Nucleus Accumbens, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Resting State Functional Connectivity, belöningssystem, funktionell magnetresonanstomografi, funktionell konnektivitet i vilotillstånd
- language
- English
- id
- 9219710
- date added to LUP
- 2026-01-21 08:21:10
- date last changed
- 2026-01-21 13:08:51
@misc{9219710,
abstract = {{Anhedonia, reduced motivation to experience pleasure, is associated with alterations in the circuitry of the reward system. Located in the ventral striatum, the bilateral nucleus accumbens (NAcc) is the central hub of this network where dopamine acts as the main excitatory neurotransmitter. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found that activity in the ventral striatum is decreased during reward processing in subjects with anhedonia. Pramipexole, a dopamine agonist commonly prescribed for Parkinson's disease, targets the reward circuitry and has been successful in decreasing the reward-related pathophysiology in anhedonic subjects. In the present study, fMRI resting state data from anhedonic subjects, randomized to treatment with pramipexole (N_pramipexole=23) or a placebo (N_placebo=21), acquired before and after 9 weeks of treatment, were analyzed. The goal was to assess the effect of pramipexole treatment on bilateral NAcc resting state functional connectivity (rsFC). RsFC is a measure of the temporal correlation of spontaneous fluctuations in blood circulation between brain regions in a subject while at rest. Small clusters of significant differences in NAcc rsFC were identified in the hippocampus/thalamus region constituting the main effects of treatment and time. No significant interaction between treatment x time was observed, indicating that no enhancement of the rsFC of the bilateral NAcc could be detected for pramipexole relative to placebo treatment. Future studies could increase sample size and treatment duration, and adopt an hypothesis-driven approach focusing on NAcc connectivity with selected regions to increase the sensitivity to detect treatment effects of pramipexole.}},
author = {{Leijnse, Natascha}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Effect of Pramipexole on Nucleus Accumbens Resting State Functional Connectivity in Anhedonia – an fMRI Study}},
year = {{2026}},
}