Adrenocortical suppression blocks the memory-enhancing effects of amphetamine and epinephrine.

Roozendaal, Benno; Carmi, Osnat; McGaugh, James L.

doi:10.1073/pnas.93.4.1429

Cited by 113 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Analyses revealed that high activity of both components of stress response was strongly associated with maximal learning performance. This observation reinforces the claim that both HPA axis activation and NE release are required for an optimal effect on learning (Roozendaal et al 1996(Roozendaal et al , 2006Cahill et al 2003;Okuda et al 2004;Abercrombie et al 2005) and supports the concept of convergence in time and space formulated by Joels et al (2006).…”

Section: Learning and Memory 331supporting

confidence: 74%

Acute exposure to stress improves performance in trace eyeblink conditioning and spatial learning tasks in healthy men

Dunčko¹,

Cornwell²,

Cui³

et al. 2007

Learn. Mem.

112

100

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The present study investigated the effects of acute stress exposure on learning performance in humans using analogs of two paradigms frequently used in animals. Healthy male participants were exposed to the cold pressor test (CPT) procedure, i.e., insertion of the dominant hand into ice water for 60 sec. Following the CPT or the control procedure, participants completed a trace eyeblink conditioning task followed by a virtual navigation Morris water task (VNMWT). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis and sympathetic autonomic system (SAS) activity were assessed by measuring salivary cortisol, heart rate, and skin conductance at selected timepoints. Results revealed positive effects of stress on performance in both tasks. The stress group showed significantly more conditioned blinks than the control group during acquisition of trace eyeblink conditioning. The stress group also performed significantly better in the VNMWT than the control group, with the former showing significantly fewer failures to locate the hidden platform in the allotted time and smaller heading errors than the latter. Regression analyses revealed positive relationships between HPA axis and SAS activity during stress and eyeblink conditioning performance. Our results directly extend findings from animal studies and suggest potential physiological mechanisms underlying stress and learning.

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Section: Learning and Memory 331supporting

confidence: 74%

Acute exposure to stress improves performance in trace eyeblink conditioning and spatial learning tasks in healthy men

Dunčko¹,

Cornwell²,

Cui³

et al. 2007

Learn. Mem.

112

100

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There is also evidence that these adrenal stress-related hormones interact in modulating memory storage (33). Suppression of the synthesis and subsequent release of glucocorticoids by administering metyrapone, an 11␤-hydroxylase inhibitor, prior to training blocks the memory-enhancing effects of epinephrine (34).…”

Section: Stress-hormone Inf Luences On Memory Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Involvement of the amygdala in memory storage: Interaction with other brain systems

McGaugh

Cahill

Roozendaal

1996

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

659

348

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There is extensive evidence that the amygdala is involved in affectively inf luenced memory. The central hypothesis guiding the research reviewed in this paper is that emotional arousal activates the amygdala and that such activation results in the modulation of memory storage occurring in other brain regions. Several lines of evidence support this view. First, the effects of stress-related hormones (epinephrine and glucocorticoids) are mediated by inf luences involving the amygdala. In rats, lesions of the amygdala and the stria terminalis block the effects of posttraining administration of epinephrine and glucocorticoids on memory. Furthermore, memory is enhanced by posttraining intraamygdala infusions of drugs that activate ␤-adrenergic and glucocorticoid receptors. Additionally, infusion of ␤-adrenergic blockers into the amygdala blocks the memory-modulating effects of epinephrine and glucocorticoids, as well as those of drugs affecting opiate and GABAergic systems. Second, an intact amygdala is not required for expression of retention. Inactivation of the amygdala prior to retention testing (by posttraining lesions or drug infusions) does not block retention performance. Third, findings of studies using human subjects are consistent with those of animal experiments. ␤-Blockers and amygdala lesions attenuate the effects of emotional arousal on memory. Additionally, 3-week recall of emotional material is highly correlated with positronemission tomography activation (cerebral glucose metabolism) of the right amygdala during encoding. These findings provide strong evidence supporting the hypothesis that the amygdala is involved in modulating long-term memory storage.For decades there has been controversy over the question of whether the amygdala is involved in memory (1-4). Extensive evidence from many laboratories has now resolved this general controversy. Studies of the effects of lesions of the amygdala in animals and humans leave little doubt that the amygdala is involved in mediating affectively influenced memory (5-8). However, there remains considerable controversy concerning the specific role (or roles) of the amygdala in affectively influenced memory. The findings of lesion studies suggest that the amygdala may enable the formation of stimulus-reward associations (1, 9-11) and may be a site of neuroplasticity mediating aversive learning (12-15). Research from our laboratory using a variety of experimental methods provides extensive additional evidence that the amygdala is involved in memory. However, our findings suggest a somewhat different view of the role of the amygdala in affectively influenced memory. Our findings suggest that the amygdala regulates the storage or consolidation of information in other brain regions (16). The central hypothesis guiding our research is that emotional arousal activates the amygdala and that such activation results in modulation of memory storage processes occurring in brain regions influenced by the amygdala. According to this view, the amygdala is part of a...

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“…A ‘poststress’ role of glucocorticoids has thus been suggested in the sense that the hormones could contribute to restore some functions activated by stress (i.e. the immune system) [1], or to reinforce important poststress functions such as restoration of energy stores or memory consolidation [2, 3, 4, 5]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Response to Stress

et al. 2000

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Pathological consequences of stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis may be related to the duration rather than to the intensity of HPA axis activation after exposure to the stressor. Consequently a fine analysis of post-stress events is of importance. The present experiments were designed to study the importance of three key factors in HPA recovery: intensity of the stressor (experiment 1), duration of exposure to the stressor (experiment 2) and previous experience of the animals with the situation (experiments 3 and 4). In experiment 1, analysis of both the response to the stressor and the poststress period showed that the stronger the stressor, the greater the area under the curve of HPA activation. In experiment 2, different groups of rats were exposed to different periods of immobilization (IMO) (20 min, 1 h and 2 h) and sampled before, during and after exposure to IMO. The speed of recovery of plasma corticotropin (ACTH) levels was not related to the duration of exposure to the stressor. In experiments 3 and 4, the influence of previous experience with the stressor was studied in rats daily exposed to 20 min IMO or daily injected with hypertonic saline (HS) for 8 days and sampled on days 1, 2, 5 and 8. Whereas a significant decline in plasma ACTH levels was not observed immediately after IMO until day 8, a single previous exposure to IMO was enough to enhance recovery 90 min after the end of exposure to IMO. Corticosterone levels were related to the number of previous experiences with the stressor only in the post-IMO period. In response to a novel stressor (forced swimming), chronic IMO rats showed a slightly impaired recovery as compared to stress-naive rats, suggesting that enhanced recovery of the HPA axis was specific for the homotypic stressor. After daily HS injections, a pattern similar to that after IMO was observed, the delayed, but not the early response of the HPA axis being reduced as a function of the number of previous experiences with the situation. Taken together, the present results suggest that the speed of recovery of the HPA axis after its activation by stressors is sensitive to the intensity of the stressors but not to their duration, and that adaptation to a repeated stressor is more apparent during the delayed HPA response.

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Adrenocortical suppression blocks the memory-enhancing effects of amphetamine and epinephrine.

Cited by 113 publications

References 42 publications

Acute exposure to stress improves performance in trace eyeblink conditioning and spatial learning tasks in healthy men

Acute exposure to stress improves performance in trace eyeblink conditioning and spatial learning tasks in healthy men

Involvement of the amygdala in memory storage: Interaction with other brain systems

Recovery of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Response to Stress

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