Abstract
Early Life Adversity (ELA) significantly increases the later risk for depression with sex disparities in humans. Depression has been associated with disturbances in the hedonic perception of odorants. Olfaction serves a primary role in social interactions, food intake, and hedonic responding to daily pleasures. Thus, the study of altered olfactory perception and hedonic processing of chemosensory cues after ELA may provide insights into basic neurobiological disturbances underlying pathology. Further, such studies may identify key pathways that impact quality of life, contributing to the development and severity of depressive symptoms as well as sex differences in risk. The aim of this study was to determine whether ELA altered the hedonic processing of odorants in adult male and female mice, and to identify neural substrates underlying those effects. Results highlight potential impacts of ELA on network development and response to exogenous signals, with sex specificities. The current results point to ELA altering the neural substrates involved in olfactory sensory function and reward in males, with implications for understanding sensitivity or resilience for anhedonia and symptom severity in individuals at risk for depression associated with prior history of ELA.