# Dopamine Availability and Developmental Pathways of Adolescent Depression and Anhedonia - Administrative Supplement

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2024 · $99,994

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Depression is a common, serious form of psychopathology that is associated with suffering, disability, and
suicide. Young people who identify as sexual or gender minority (SGM) are at strikingly high risk for
experiencing depression, putatively because of their experience of SGM-specific stress. Yet the mechanisms of
the association between stress and depression in SGM youth have been relatively neglected, with studies to
date limited by cross-sectional designs and a lack of focus on clinical neuroscience.
Depression is characterized by disrupted reward function and typically begins during adolescence, a key
developmental period for change in neurobehavioral systems supporting reward. The dopamine (DA)
neuromodulatory system is consistently associated with depression, considered a mediator of stress-depression
associations through the influence of inflammation, and thought to be specifically influential for anhedonia, a
cardinal symptom of depression that involves difficulty with motivation for or enjoyment of pleasant
experiences. Understanding the role of DA in depression requires examining reward function over time and
across domains, including frontostriatal reward circuitry, dopamine availability, reward-driven behavior, and
reward-focused experiences in real-life settings.
The proposed supplement activities will contribute to the parent R01 by examining associations of SGM
identity and related stress with (1) depression/anhedonia and (2) reward function (e.g., DA availability,
frontostriatal circuitry, behavior, real-life experience, and phone sensor-based movement). Exploratory work
will investigate the exacerbating or buffering role, respectively, of SGM-related stress and protective factors.
This work will contribute to the aims of the current, R01-funded DRIVE Study (MH127014), which uses a
translational clinical neuroscience approach to examine associations between depression and DA. In addition
to enrolling a new sample of 35 SGM youth with depression and varying in SGM-specific stress, the proposed
activities include adding rigorous measures of SGM identity and related stressors and protective factors to the
original R01 and administering DRIVE procedures and a 6-month follow-up visit to new SGM participants.
Methods include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess DA function (striatal tissue iron, brainstem
neuromelanin) and frontostriatal circuit function; ecological momentary assessment of reward processing and
reward-seeking behavior; smartphone-based passive sensing of motor activity; behavioral reward tasks; self-
report of depression, anhedonia, and reward function; and blood draw and assay for measurement of
circulating inflammatory markers (e.g., CRP, IL-6). Findings will have relevance to the course and treatment of
depression and will increase the impact of the parent R01 while elucidating a pathway toward disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11020053
- **Project number:** 3R01MH127014-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Erika E Forbes
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $99,994
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-08-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11020053

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11020053, Dopamine Availability and Developmental Pathways of Adolescent Depression and Anhedonia - Administrative Supplement (3R01MH127014-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11020053. Licensed CC0.

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