Repeated Stress Causes Cognitive Impairment by Suppressing Glutamate Receptor Expression and Function in Prefrontal Cortex
Eunice Y. Yuen, Jing Wei, Wenhua Liu, Ping Zhong, Xiangning Li, and Zhen Yan
(Neuron 73, 962–977, March 8, 2012)
In the Introduction to this important article related to chronic stress and maladaptive changes, the authors clearly outline the relationship between adrenal corticosterone and a number of cognitive and emotional distrubances.
Adrenal corticosterone, the major stress hormone, through the activation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), can induce long-lasting influences on cognitive and emotional processes. Mounting evidence suggests that inappropriate stress responses act as a trigger for many mental illnesses. For example, depression is associated with hypercortisolaemia (excessive cortisol, whereas posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to hypocortisolaemia (insufficient cortisol), resulting from an enhanced negative feedback by cortisol (Yehuda, 2002). Thus, corticosteroid hormones are thought to serve as a key controller for adaptation and maintenance of homeostasis in situations of acute stress, as well as maladaptive changes in response to chronic and repeated stress that lead to cognitive and emotional disturbances symptomatic of stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders...
Chronic stress or glucocorticoid treatment has been found to cause structural remodeling and behavioral alterations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) from adult animals, such as dendritic shortening, spine loss, and neuronal atrophy, as well as impairment in cognitive flexibility and perceptual attention...
No comments:
Post a Comment