Stress and Memory: Opposing Effects of Glucocorticoids on Memory Consolidation and Memory Retrieval

doi:10.1006/nlme.2002.4080

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Volume 78, Issue 3, November 2002, Pages 578-595

https://doi.org/10.1006/nlme.2002.4080 Get rights and content

Abstract

It is well established that glucocorticoid hormones, secreted by the adrenal cortex after a stressful event, influence cognitive performance. Some studies have found glucocorticoid-induced memory enhancement. However, many studies have reported impairing effects of glucocorticoids on memory function. This paper reviews recent findings from this laboratory on the acute effects of glucocorticoids in rats on specific memory phases, i.e., memory consolidation and memory retrieval. The evidence suggests that the consequences of glucocorticoid activation on cognition depend largely on the different memory phases investigated. Posttraining activation of glucocorticoid-sensitive pathways involving glucocorticoid receptors enhances memory consolidation in a pattern highly similar to that previously described for adrenal catecholamines. Also, similar to catecholamine effects on memory consolidation, glucocorticoid influences on memory consolidation depend on noradrenergic activation of the basolateral complex of the amygdala and interactions with other brain regions. By contrast, memory retrieval processes are usually impaired with high circulating levels of glucocorticoids or following infusions of glucocorticoid receptor agonists into the hippocampus. The hypothesis is proposed that these apparently dual effects of glucocorticoids on memory consolidation and memory retrieval might be related and that the basolateral complex of the amygdala is a key structure in a memory-modulatory system that regulates, in concert with other brain regions, stress and glucocorticoid effects on both memory consolidation and memory retrieval.

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^☆: This paper is dedicated to the memory of my mentor and friend, Dr. Béla Bohus.

^☆☆: The author thanks Dr. James L. McGaugh for comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and continuous support. The research was supported by USPHS Grant MH12526 from NIMH (to James L. McGaugh).

^f3: Address correspondence and reprint requests to Benno Roozendaal, Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-3800. Fax: (949) 824-2952. E-mail: [email protected].

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Special Issue ArticleStress and Memory: Opposing Effects of Glucocorticoids on Memory Consolidation and Memory Retrieval☆,☆☆

Abstract

Brain Research

Progress in Brain Research

Journal of Psychiatric Research

Behavioral and Neural Biology

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Brain Research

Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior

Behavioral and Neural Biology

Trends in Neuroscience

Physiology and Behavior

Pharmacology, Biochemistry & Behavior

Behavioral Biology

Brain Research

Behavioural Brain Research

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Neuroscience Letters

Life Sciences

European Journal of Pharmacology

Hormones & Behavior

Brain Research

Brain Research

Brain Research

Brain Research Reviews

Biological Psychiatry

Biochemical Pharmacology

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Neuroscience

Brain Research

Behavioral and Neural Biology

Neuroscience

Maternal glucocorticoid secretion mediates long-term effects of prenatal stress

Journal of Neuroscience

Enduring effects of chronic corticosterone treatment on spatial learning, synaptic plasticity, and hippocampal neuropathology in young and mid-aged rats

Journal of Neuroscience

Humoral modulation of learning and memory processes: Physiological significance of brain and peripheral mechanisms

NMDA-induced lesions of the amygdaloid complex block the retention enhancing effect of posttraining epinephrine

Psychobiology

Chronic stress impairs rat spatial memory on the Y-maze, and this effect is blocked by tianeptine pretreatment

Behavioral Neuroscience

Cyclic AMP-generating systems: Regional differences in activation by adrenergic receptors in rat brain

Journal of Neuroscience

Protein synthesis and memory: A review

Psychological Bulletin

Brain corticosteroid receptor balance and homeostatic control

Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology

Antiglucocorticoid RU 38486 attenuates retention of a behavior and disinhibits the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis at different sites

Neuroendocrinology

Stress and glucocorticoids impair retrieval of long-term spatial memory

Nature

Acute cortisone administration impairs retrieval of long-term declarative memory in humans

Nature Neuroscience

Exposing rats to a predator impairs spatial working memory in the radial arm water maze

Hippocampus

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Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology

Distribution of monoamines within the amygdala

Special Issue Article
Stress and Memory: Opposing Effects of Glucocorticoids on Memory Consolidation and Memory Retrieval☆,☆☆