- Email: [email protected]
Stress and the regulation of memory: From basic mechanisms to clinical implications Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Special Issue
YNLME 6106
No. of Pages 1, Model 5G
22 April 2014 Neurobiology of Learning and Memory xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ynlme
2
Editorial
6 4 7
Stress and the regulation of memory: From basic mechanisms to clinical implications Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Special Issue
5 8
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Over the last decades considerable evidence has accumulated indicating that stress is critically involved in regulating various memory processes. Many of these stress effects can be seen as adaptive, such as the memory-enhancing effect of acute stress that helps us to retain important information. Under certain conditions, however, the memory-enhancing effect of acute traumatic stress may contribute to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. More generally, stress has been identified as a risk factor for many psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia and dysregulated memory functions are often observed in these disorders. The papers in this Special Issue demonstrate that over the last decade there has been a significant increase in understanding of stress regulation of memory processes and that basic- and clinical neuroscience of stress and memory has begun to merge. This translational academic endeavor is of considerable importance considering that major pharmaceutical companies are disengaging from drug-discovery programs related to psychiatric disorders. This Special Issue brings together 27 papers from leading scientists in the field of stress and memory. Thirteen contributions are review papers that cover different aspects of stress and memory and suggest translational aspects. Several papers review stress effects on specific anatomic structures such as the amygdala or the hippocampus, while other papers review the memory-modulatory effects of glucocorticoids, norepinephrine and endocannabinoids. Further, the issue includes review papers concerning the role of memory in clinical conditions as well as the treatment potential of pharmacologically modulating memory processes. Finally, several papers review recently developed novel approaches for investigating stress and memory, such as epigenetics and human genetics. Fourteen papers of this Special Issue are experimental studies that range from basic mechanisms in animals and healthy humans to clinical studies in patients. The findings reviewed and presented in this Special Issue clearly indicate that the regulation of memory by stress is highly complex. Importantly, it has been determined that stress effects on memory can be diverse and sometimes even opposite, depending on which process and form of memory is affected. Memory is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2014.04.011 1074-7427/Ó 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
not the result of a single cognitive process, but is rather the outcome of many processes, such as memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, each having partly distinct molecular profiles and neuroanatomical underpinnings. Findings indicate, for example, that acute stress enhances memory consolidation while it impairs the retrieval of already stored information. Moreover, there are different forms of memory, including working memory, episodic memory or procedural memory, which are differentially affected by stress. Furthermore, stress can have differential memorymodulating effects depending on whether it is acute or chronic, mild or severe, physical or psychological. Finally, considerable evidence indicates that stress effects on memory are influenced by additional factors such as sex, age, genetic background or epigenetic marks. To better understand the role of stress in memory modulation in physiological and pathophysiological conditions it is important to take into account the complexity of stress effects on memory. The present Special Issue contributes to such an endeavor by providing a comprehensive overview of stress effects on memory together with a special focus on translational aspects. Dominique J.-F. de Quervain Q1 Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Psychology, Birmannsgasse 8, 4055 Basel, Switzerland Fax: +41 61 267 02 41. Q2 E-mail address: [email protected] James L. McGaugh Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Research Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, 334 Qureshey Research Laboratory, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3800, United States E-mail address: [email protected]
47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78
Available online xxxx
79 80 81
No. of Pages 1, Model 5G
22 April 2014 Neurobiology of Learning and Memory xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 1
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ynlme
2
Editorial
6 4 7
Stress and the regulation of memory: From basic mechanisms to clinical implications Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Special Issue
5 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46
Over the last decades considerable evidence has accumulated indicating that stress is critically involved in regulating various memory processes. Many of these stress effects can be seen as adaptive, such as the memory-enhancing effect of acute stress that helps us to retain important information. Under certain conditions, however, the memory-enhancing effect of acute traumatic stress may contribute to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder. More generally, stress has been identified as a risk factor for many psychiatric disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression and schizophrenia and dysregulated memory functions are often observed in these disorders. The papers in this Special Issue demonstrate that over the last decade there has been a significant increase in understanding of stress regulation of memory processes and that basic- and clinical neuroscience of stress and memory has begun to merge. This translational academic endeavor is of considerable importance considering that major pharmaceutical companies are disengaging from drug-discovery programs related to psychiatric disorders. This Special Issue brings together 27 papers from leading scientists in the field of stress and memory. Thirteen contributions are review papers that cover different aspects of stress and memory and suggest translational aspects. Several papers review stress effects on specific anatomic structures such as the amygdala or the hippocampus, while other papers review the memory-modulatory effects of glucocorticoids, norepinephrine and endocannabinoids. Further, the issue includes review papers concerning the role of memory in clinical conditions as well as the treatment potential of pharmacologically modulating memory processes. Finally, several papers review recently developed novel approaches for investigating stress and memory, such as epigenetics and human genetics. Fourteen papers of this Special Issue are experimental studies that range from basic mechanisms in animals and healthy humans to clinical studies in patients. The findings reviewed and presented in this Special Issue clearly indicate that the regulation of memory by stress is highly complex. Importantly, it has been determined that stress effects on memory can be diverse and sometimes even opposite, depending on which process and form of memory is affected. Memory is
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2014.04.011 1074-7427/Ó 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.
not the result of a single cognitive process, but is rather the outcome of many processes, such as memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval, each having partly distinct molecular profiles and neuroanatomical underpinnings. Findings indicate, for example, that acute stress enhances memory consolidation while it impairs the retrieval of already stored information. Moreover, there are different forms of memory, including working memory, episodic memory or procedural memory, which are differentially affected by stress. Furthermore, stress can have differential memorymodulating effects depending on whether it is acute or chronic, mild or severe, physical or psychological. Finally, considerable evidence indicates that stress effects on memory are influenced by additional factors such as sex, age, genetic background or epigenetic marks. To better understand the role of stress in memory modulation in physiological and pathophysiological conditions it is important to take into account the complexity of stress effects on memory. The present Special Issue contributes to such an endeavor by providing a comprehensive overview of stress effects on memory together with a special focus on translational aspects. Dominique J.-F. de Quervain Q1 Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University Psychiatric Clinics, Department of Psychology, Birmannsgasse 8, 4055 Basel, Switzerland Fax: +41 61 267 02 41. Q2 E-mail address: [email protected] James L. McGaugh Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Research Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, 334 Qureshey Research Laboratory, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-3800, United States E-mail address: [email protected]
47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78
Available online xxxx
79 80 81