Topic
Corticosterone
About: Corticosterone is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 12965 publications have been published within this topic receiving 530105 citations. The topic is also known as: 11beta,21-dihydroxyprogesterone & 17-deoxycortisol.
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TL;DR: The results of a variety of studies suggest that gonadal steroid hormones, particularly testosterone, modulate HPA activity in an attempt to prevent the deleterious effects of HPA activation on reproductive function.
789 citations
TL;DR: Results suggest that individual differences in adult emotional status may be governed by early environmental factors; however, perinatal experiences are not effective in influencing adult memory capacity.
Abstract: It is well known that the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is altered by early environmental experiences, particularly in the perinatal period. This may be one mechanism by which the environment changes the physiology of the animal such that individual differences in adult adaptative capabilities, such as behavioral reactivity and memory performance, are observable. To determine the origin of these behavioral individual differences, we have investigated whether the long-term influence of prenatal and postnatal experiences on emotional and cognitive behaviors in adult rats are correlated with changes in HPA activity. To this end, prenatal stress of rat dams during the last week of gestation and postnatal daily handling of rat pups during the first 3 weeks of life were used as two environmental manipulations. The behavioral reactivity of the adult offspring in response to novelty was evaluated using four different parameters: the number of visits to different arms in a Y-maze, the distance covered in an open field, the time spent in the corners of the open field, and the time spent in the open arms of an elevated plus-maze. Cognitive performance was assessed using a water maze and a two-trial memory test. Adult prenatally stressed rats showed high anxiety-like behavior, expressed as an escape behavior to novelty correlated with high secretion of corticosterone in response to stress, whereas adult handled rats exhibited low anxiety-like behavior, expressed as high exploratory behavior correlated with low secretion of corticosterone in response to stress. On the other hand, neither prenatal stress nor handling changed spatial learning or memory performance. Taken together, these results suggest that individual differences in adult emotional status may be governed by early environmental factors; however, perinatal experiences are not effective in influencing adult memory capacity.
782 citations
TL;DR: There is an intimate relationship between corticosteroid levels, hippocampal neuritic structure and hippocampal-dependent learning and memory and the effects of chronic stress on hippocampal dendrite morphology, the volume of the mossy fiber system, and number and morphology of synapses between mossy fibers and CA3 dendritic excrescences are evaluated.
758 citations
TL;DR: It is reported that corticosterone also rapidly and reversibly changes hippocampal signaling, and would allow the brain to change its function within minutes after stress-induced elevations of corticosteroid levels, in addition to responding later through gene-mediated signaling pathways.
Abstract: The adrenal hormone corticosterone transcriptionally regulates responsive genes in the rodent hippocampus through nuclear mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors. Via this genomic pathway the hormone alters properties of hippocampal cells slowly and for a prolonged period. Here we report that corticosterone also rapidly and reversibly changes hippocampal signaling. Stress levels of the hormone enhance the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic potentials in CA1 pyramidal neurons and reduce paired-pulse facilitation, pointing to a hormone-dependent enhancement of glutamate-release probability. The rapid effect by corticosterone is accomplished through a nongenomic pathway involving membrane-located receptors. Unexpectedly, the rapid effect critically depends on the classical mineralocorticoid receptor, as evidenced by the effectiveness of agonists, antagonists, and brain-specific inactivation of the mineralocorticoid but not the glucocorticoid receptor gene. Rapid actions by corticosterone would allow the brain to change its function within minutes after stress-induced elevations of corticosteroid levels, in addition to responding later through gene-mediated signaling pathways.
740 citations
13 Apr 1949
TL;DR: Clinical results accompanied by various biochemical effects were obtained from the administration of the pituitary adrenocorticotrophic hormone to two patients and the disease generally relapsed promptly.
Abstract: The adrenal cortical hormone 17-hydroxy-11dehydrocorticosterone, hereinafter called " compound E" (Mason and others, 1938; Reichstein and Shoppee, 1943) has been administered to fourteen patients with severe or moderately severe rheumatoid arthritis. In each case improvement in clinical features and in sedimentation rates began to occur within a few days. When administration of the hormone was discontinued, the disease generally relapsed promptly. Essentially similar clinical results accompanied by various biochemical effects were obtained from the administration of the pituitary adrenocorticotrophic hormone to two patients. The rarity of these compounds presently and in the immediate future, and the limited scope of our preliminary data (especially regarding prolonged administration) make inappropriate now the use of the term " treatment " except in an investigative sense. This paper is presented, not as a clinicotherapeutic report, but as a study of certain physiologic effects which these new hormones exert on rheumatoid arthritis.
735 citations