Department of Psychiatry, Charité University Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2012 Jul;37(7):1048-56. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2011.12.002. Epub 2011 Dec 22.
In the present study, we aimed to compare the effect of exogenous cortisol on memory retrieval in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with the effects in healthy controls. In healthy participants, administration of cortisol impairs declarative memory retrieval. Only a few studies have investigated these effects in PTSD yielding mixed results.
In a placebo-controlled crossover study, 44 patients with PTSD and 65 healthy controls received either placebo or 10mg of hydrocortisone orally before memory testing. In addition to declarative memory retrieval (word list learning), we also tested autobiographical memory retrieval specificity.
In both tasks opposing effects of cortisol on memory were observed when comparing patients with controls. In controls, cortisol had impairing effects on memory retrieval, while in PTSD patients cortisol had enhancing effects on memory retrieval in both memory domains.
The present results suggest beneficial effects of acute cortisol elevations on hippocampal mediated memory processes in PTSD. Possible neurobiological mechanisms underlying these findings are discussed.
在本研究中，我们旨在比较外源性皮质醇对创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）患者记忆检索的影响与对健康对照组的影响。在健康参与者中，皮质醇的给药会损害陈述性记忆检索。只有少数研究调查了 PTSD 中的这些影响，结果喜忧参半。
在一项安慰剂对照交叉研究中，44 名 PTSD 患者和 65 名健康对照者分别在记忆测试前口服安慰剂或 10mg 氢化可的松。除了陈述性记忆检索（单词列表学习）外，我们还测试了自传体记忆检索的特异性。
在这两个任务中，当比较患者与对照组时，皮质醇对记忆的影响是相反的。在对照组中，皮质醇对记忆检索有损害作用，而在 PTSD 患者中，皮质醇对两个记忆领域的记忆检索都有增强作用。
目前的结果表明，急性皮质醇升高对 PTSD 中海马介导的记忆过程有有益的影响。讨论了这些发现的潜在神经生物学机制。
