Glucocorticoids, the hippocampus, and behavior: interactive relation between task activation and steroid hormone binding specificity.
A previous investigation established a modulatory effect of adrenal glucocorticoids on a behavior generally believed to require participation of the hippocampus for normal expression. For further delineation of whether the observed effects on appetitive extinction are consistent with a glucocorticoid action on hippocampus, adrenalectomized rats were administered either corticosterone or dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid that is accumulated much less intensively by the hippocampus than is corticosterone. While corticosterone normalized extinction, dexamethasone did not. In two other hippocampal-dependent behaviors, alternation and exploration, there was no glucocorticoid modulation of behavior, which may indicate that factors such as the level of activation of the type of learning determine whether a glucocorticoid effect will occur. These findings of a glucocorticoid action on one of three tasks that involve hippocampal function reinforce the notion that in addition to their well-studied actions in protein and carbohydrate metabolism, the adrenal glucocorticoids may also be subtle modulators of behavior.
D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000502:physiology*; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid / Q000378:metabolism*; D011987:Receptors, Steroid / Q000378:metabolism*
D005938:Glucocorticoids; D011965:Receptors, Glucocorticoid; D011987:Receptors, Steroid; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003345:Corticosterone