CORTISOL-LEVELS DURING HUMAN AGING PREDICT HIPPOCAMPAL ATROPHY AND MEMORY DEFICITS

Elevated glucocorticoid levels produce hippocampal dysfunction and cor relate with individual deficits in spatial learning in aged rats. Prev iously we related persistent cortisol increases to memory impairments in elderly humans studied over five years. Here we demonstrate that ag ed humans with significant prolonged cortisol elevations showed reduce d hippocampal volume and deficits in hippocampus-dependent memory task s compared to normal-cortisol controls. Moreover, the degree of hippoc ampal atrophy correlated strongly with both the degree of cortisol ele vation over time and current basal cortisol levels. Therefore, basal c ortisol elevation may cause hippocampal damage and impair hippocampus- dependent learning and memory in humans.