Enduring effects of chronic corticosterone treatment on spatial learning, synaptic plasticity, and hippocampal neuropathology in young and mid-aged rats (original) (raw)

Prolonged treatment with stress levels of corticosterone affects spatial learning, synaptic plasticity, and neuropathology in the hippocampus of young and mid-aged rats. In a series of experiments, young and mid-aged male Long-Evans rats were treated with corticosterone for durations of 1 or 3 months and subsequently assessed using the Morris water maze. Results showed that while young rats exhibited no behavioral deficits, mid-aged rats demonstrated significant spatial learning impairments after 3 months of treatment. Furthermore, the impairments correlated with diminished synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus without a significant loss of neuron density, indicating that elevated glucocorticoid levels have enduring effects on learning and memory in aging populations.