Abstract
Background
Cortisol has potent effects on learning and neuroplasticity, but little is known about
its effects on negative memory biases in depression. Animal models show that aversive
caregiving alters effects of glucocorticoids (primarily corticosterone in rodents
and cortisol in primates) on learning and neuroplasticity into adulthood.
Methods
We investigated whether history of childhood emotional abuse (EA) moderated effects
of cortisol administration (CORT) versus placebo on emotional memory formation in
depression. Participants included 75 unmedicated women with varying levels of depression
severity and/or EA history. In a double-blind crossover investigation, we used functional
magnetic resonance imaging to measure effects of CORT (vs. placebo) on neural function
during emotional memory formation.
Results
CORT eliminated the well-known relationship between depression severity and negative
memory bias, a finding explained by EA severity. For women with a history of severe
EA, CORT reduced depression-related negative memory bias and normalized recall for
pleasant stimuli. EA severity also moderated CORT effects on neural function: in women
with history of severe EA, CORT increased activation in the supplementary motor area
during viewing of unpleasant relative to pleasant pictures. Additionally, supplementary
motor area activation predicted reduced negative bias for pictures encoded during
CORT.
Conclusions
These results suggest that increasing cortisol signaling may be neurocognitively beneficial
in depressed women with a history of maltreatment. The findings corroborate prior
research suggesting that presence or absence of adverse caregiving is etiologically
important in depression. These findings suggest potential neurocognitive mechanisms
of therapeutics targeting cortisol signaling, which show promise in treating affective
disorders.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 22, 2017
Accepted:
November 13,
2017
Received:
October 13,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Too Much Is Still Not Enough, When Talking About CortisolBiological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and NeuroimagingVol. 3Issue 3
- PreviewMore than 13 years ago, a junior academic named Heather Abercrombie approached me at a conference and thanked me for her recently awarded National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Award. She graciously attributed her grant success to the fact that her application focused on glucocorticoid resistance and told me that she had cited all my papers on this topic in her application! This personal memory could not fail to come to mind when I was invited by the editorial office to write this Commentary regarding the article by Abercrombie et al.
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