Genomic and non-gemonic cortisol effects on memory retrieval dependent on sex hormone status

基因组和非基因皮质醇对记忆检索的影响取决于性激素状态

• 批准号: 420772472
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Christian Josef Merz
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl Kognitionspsychologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-31 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/420772472?language=en
• 关键词: Genomic; non; gemonic; cortisol; effects

Stress and the accompanying increase in the stress hormone cortisol lead to impairments in memory retrieval, which exert distinct effects in daily life, for example in exams or in court. In the last years, it was emphasized that fast, non-genomic cortisol actions (starting within minutes after exposure to stress) complement slow genomic cortisol actions (beginning one hour later) and lead to impaired memory retrieval in both cases. Surprisingly, there are only few studies in humans investigating the involved neural underpinnings of memory retrieval, but restricted to non-genomic cortisol effects. In addition, previous studies only included men, thus, there is no existing evidence on the involved brain structures in women. Due to different sex hormone concentrations, attention has to be paid in women not only to the time within the menstrual cycle, but also to the intake of oral contraceptives (OC). In particular, it has been shown that stress and cortisol effects on various learning and memory processes are either not detectable in OC women or in the opposite direction as compared to men. Accordingly, it is extremely important to investigate different women groups in order to contrast sex hormone effects with direct OC effects and a general sex effect. In the present functional magnet resonance tomography study, the neural signature of non-genomic and genomic cortisol effects on memory retrieval should be characterized. In addition to men, different women groups with varying sex hormone levels should be compared: free-cycling women either tested in the early follicular phase or the luteal phase of the individual menstrual cycle as well as women taking OCs. Twenty-four hours after intentional encoding memory retrieval should take place either after intake of placebo or cortisol (20mg). Furthermore, it is intended to identify possible factors (e.g. hippocampal volume or sex hormone concentrations) associated with individual differences in the amount of memory retrieval impairment and its modulation.The results of this study can contribute a lot to a better understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of stress hormone induced memory deficits. In addition, important clues regarding clinical application fields are expected, particularly concerning mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder, whose stress-associated memory phenomena are well described.

压力和随之而来的应激激素皮质醇的增加会导致记忆检索受损，这对日常生活（例如考试或法庭）产生明显的影响。在过去的几年里，人们强调，快速的非基因组皮质醇活动（在受到压力后几分钟内开始）补充了缓慢的基因组皮质醇活动（一小时后开始），并导致这两种情况下的记忆检索受损。令人惊讶的是，只有很少的人类研究调查记忆检索所涉及的神经基础，但仅限于非基因组皮质醇效应。此外，之前的研究只包括男性，因此，没有证据表明女性所涉及的大脑结构。由于性激素浓度不同，女性不仅要注意月经周期内的时间，还要注意口服避孕药（OC）的摄入量。特别是，研究表明，压力和皮质醇对各种学习和记忆过程的影响在 OC 女性中要么无法检测到，要么与男性相比方向相反。因此，研究不同的女性群体以将性激素影响与直接 OC 影响和一般性影响进行对比是极其重要的。在目前的功能磁共振断层扫描研究中，应该表征非基因组和基因组皮质醇对记忆检索影响的神经特征。除男性外，还应比较具有不同性激素水平的不同女性群体：在卵泡早期或单个月经周期黄体期进行测试的自由周期女性以及服用口服避孕药的女性。有意编码记忆检索后 24 小时应在摄入安慰剂或皮质醇（20 毫克）后进行。此外，其目的是确定与记忆提取障碍数量及其调节的个体差异相关的可能因素（例如海马体积或性激素浓度）。这项研究的结果可以为更好地理解应激激素引起的记忆缺陷的神经生物学基础做出很大贡献。此外，期望获得有关临床应用领域的重要线索，特别是关于创伤后应激障碍等精神障碍，其与压力相关的记忆现象已得到很好的描述。