Beta-adrenergic modulation of emotional memory-evoked human amygdala and hippocampal responses.
Human emotional experience is typically associated with enhanced episodic memory. We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate that successful encoding of emotional, compared to neutral, verbal stimuli evokes increased human amygdala responses. Items that evoke amygdala activation at encoding evoke greater hippocampal responses at retrieval compared to neutral items. Administration of the beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol at encoding abolishes the enhanced amygdala encoding and hippocampal retrieval effects, despite propranolol being no longer present at retrieval. Thus, memory-related amygdala responses at encoding and hippocampal responses at recognition for emotional items depend on beta-adrenergic engagement at encoding. Our results suggest that human emotional memory is associated with a beta-adrenergic-dependent modulation of amygdala-hippocampal interactions.
Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, United Kingdom. bstrange@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk
B A
BA
Strange
R J
RJ
Dolan
D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D011433:Propranolol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta / Q000378:metabolism*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta; D011433:Propranolol