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Working memory performance is associated with common glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms

Working memory performance is associated with common glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms
Working memory performance is associated with common glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms
Cortisol has a modulatory influence on cognitive functions in humans. Both impairing and enhancing effects of cortisol administration have been shown for hippocampus dependent declarative memory and impairing effects have been shown for prefrontal cortex dependent working memory function. Given the high density of glucocorticoid receptors in the prefrontal cortex, we investigated whether common polymorphisms of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (ER22/23EK, N363S, BclI, 9beta A3669G) modulate the influence of cortisol administration on working memory. Working memory performance was investigated in 169 subjects under 10mg hydrocortisone (cortisol) and under placebo using an item-recognition task. No impairing effect of hydrocortisone treatment became evident. However, a sex by genotype interaction on general working memory performance was revealed (p=.02). While female heterozygous carriers of the 9beta G allele displayed faster reaction times than the other genotype groups, 9beta G heterozygous men were relatively slower. Heritability estimates for memory are roughly 50%, indicating that common genetic polymorphisms have an important impact on cognitive performance. Our results suggest that variants of the GR gene might explain some of the variance attributable to genetic factors. Furthermore, it can be speculated that they modulate the individual vulnerability for memory impairments related to stress related psychiatric disorders
cortisol, single-nucleotide polymorphism, NR3C1 polymorphism, cognition
0302-282X
49-56
Kumsta, R.
40cfd543-15ea-44fc-b778-3bfc4ae14f6f
Entringer, S.
7a3581e3-5d89-406b-8631-7bdd3aa78eb8
Koper, J.W.
b35e9497-5af3-41ad-b0e3-ff7210f86d08
van Rossum, E.F.C.
73e37140-d1d3-46c4-ba5a-eaa386ca1c87
Hellhammer, D.H.
2e2b65d7-69f2-40bc-84be-ba10e093c016
Wüst, S.
96e48b7c-9aa0-4279-83d9-86b63e1d6303
Kumsta, R.
40cfd543-15ea-44fc-b778-3bfc4ae14f6f
Entringer, S.
7a3581e3-5d89-406b-8631-7bdd3aa78eb8
Koper, J.W.
b35e9497-5af3-41ad-b0e3-ff7210f86d08
van Rossum, E.F.C.
73e37140-d1d3-46c4-ba5a-eaa386ca1c87
Hellhammer, D.H.
2e2b65d7-69f2-40bc-84be-ba10e093c016
Wüst, S.
96e48b7c-9aa0-4279-83d9-86b63e1d6303

Kumsta, R., Entringer, S., Koper, J.W., van Rossum, E.F.C., Hellhammer, D.H. and Wüst, S. (2010) Working memory performance is associated with common glucocorticoid receptor gene polymorphisms. Neuropsychobiology, 61 (1), 49-56. (doi:10.1159/000262180).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Cortisol has a modulatory influence on cognitive functions in humans. Both impairing and enhancing effects of cortisol administration have been shown for hippocampus dependent declarative memory and impairing effects have been shown for prefrontal cortex dependent working memory function. Given the high density of glucocorticoid receptors in the prefrontal cortex, we investigated whether common polymorphisms of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (ER22/23EK, N363S, BclI, 9beta A3669G) modulate the influence of cortisol administration on working memory. Working memory performance was investigated in 169 subjects under 10mg hydrocortisone (cortisol) and under placebo using an item-recognition task. No impairing effect of hydrocortisone treatment became evident. However, a sex by genotype interaction on general working memory performance was revealed (p=.02). While female heterozygous carriers of the 9beta G allele displayed faster reaction times than the other genotype groups, 9beta G heterozygous men were relatively slower. Heritability estimates for memory are roughly 50%, indicating that common genetic polymorphisms have an important impact on cognitive performance. Our results suggest that variants of the GR gene might explain some of the variance attributable to genetic factors. Furthermore, it can be speculated that they modulate the individual vulnerability for memory impairments related to stress related psychiatric disorders

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More information

Published date: January 2010
Keywords: cortisol, single-nucleotide polymorphism, NR3C1 polymorphism, cognition

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 72289
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72289
ISSN: 0302-282X
PURE UUID: 3ce4ca45-d163-4267-a9b4-4e972f2ef181

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Date deposited: 05 Feb 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 21:24

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Contributors

Author: R. Kumsta
Author: S. Entringer
Author: J.W. Koper
Author: E.F.C. van Rossum
Author: D.H. Hellhammer
Author: S. Wüst

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