RESEARCH - Steroid therapy-induced memory deficits: acute versus chronic effects

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J Neurosci. 2008 Mar 26;28(13):3474-8.

Glucocorticoid therapy-induced memory deficits: acute versus chronic effects.

Coluccia D, Wolf OT, Kollias S, Roozendaal B, Forster A, de Quervain DJ.

Department of Psychiatry Research, University of Zürich, 8032 Zürich,

Switzerland.

Conditions with chronically elevated glucocorticoid levels are usually

associated with declarative memory deficits. Considerable evidence

suggests that long-term glucocorticoid exposure may cause cognitive

impairment via cumulative and long-lasting influences on hippocampal

function and morphology. However, because elevated glucocorticoid

levels at the time of retention testing are also known to have direct

impairing effects on memory retrieval, it is possible that such acute

hormonal influences on retrieval processes contribute to the memory

deficits found with chronic glucocorticoid exposure. To investigate

this issue, we examined memory functions and hippocampal volume in 24

patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were treated either chronically

(5.3 +/- 1.0 years, mean +/- SE) with low to moderate doses of

prednisone (7.5 +/- 0.8 mg, mean +/- SE) or without glucocorticoids.

In both groups, delayed recall of words learned 24 h earlier was

assessed under conditions of either elevated or basal glucocorticoid

levels in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design.

Although the findings in this patient population did not provide

evidence for harmful effects of a history of chronic prednisone

treatment on memory performance or hippocampal volume per se, acute

prednisone administration 1 h before retention testing to either the

steroid or nonsteroid group impaired word recall. Thus, these findings

indicate that memory deficits observed under chronically elevated

glucocorticoid levels result, at least in part, from acute and

reversible glucocorticoid effects on memory retrieval.

PMID: 18367613

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18367613

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