Re: RESEARCH - Amygdala volume in patients receiving chronic steroid therapy

[Guest guest]

Sometimes you just don't want to know these things. I've been on

prednisone for more than 20 years. I can't even imagine the damage

it's done.

Suz

-- In , " "

<Rheumatoid.Arthritis.Support@...> wrote:

>

> Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Apr 1;63(7):705-9. Epub 2007 Nov 5.

>

>

> Amygdala volume in patients receiving chronic corticosteroid therapy.

>

>

> Brown ES, Woolston DJ, Frol AB.

> Psychoneuroendocrine Research Program, Department of Psychiatry,

> University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

> 75390-8849, USA.

>

>

> BACKGROUND: Hippocampal volume reduction and declarative memory

> deficits are reported in humans and animals exposed to exogenous

> corticosteroids. The amygdala is another brain structure involved in

> the stress response that has important interactions with the

> hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. To our knowledge, no studies in

> animals or humans have examined the impact of exogenous corticosteroid

> administration on the amygdala. We assessed amygdala volume in

> patients receiving chronic prescription corticosteroid therapy and

> control subjects with similar medical histories not receiving

> corticosteroids. METHODS: Fifteen patients on long-term prednisone

> therapy and 13 control subjects of similar age, gender, ethnicity,

> education, height, and medical history were assessed with magnetic

> resonance imaging. Amygdala volume was manually traced and compared

> between groups using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

> Correlations between amygdala volume, age, and corticosteroid

> dose/duration were assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

> RESULTS: Compared with control subjects, corticosteroid-treated

> patients had significantly smaller amygdala volumes. Right amygdala

> volume correlated significantly with age in control subjects and with

> duration of corticosteroid therapy in patients.

>

> CONCLUSIONS: Patients receiving chronic corticosteroid therapy had

> smaller amygdala volumes than control subjects that correlated with

> duration of corticosteroid therapy. These findings suggest that

> corticosteroid exposure may be associated with changes in the amygdala

> as well as hippocampus.

>

>

> PMID: 17981265

>

> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17981265

>

>

> --

>

> Not an MD

>