ReviewReviews in the neurosciences2008
Chronic stress-induced hippocampal vulnerability: the glucocorticoid vulnerability hypothesis.
Review in Reviews in the neurosciences, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 187 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
187 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 412 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- MicroRNAs expressed in depression and their associated pathways: A systematic review and a bioinformatics analysis.Journal of chemical neuroanatomy · 2019Pooled it
- The medial temporal lobe in nociception: a meta-analytic and functional connectivity study.Pain · 2019Pooled it
- Obesity-related differences in amygdala and hippocampal volume and metabolism before and after a placebo-controlled antidepressant trial in major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Investigating the relationship between hippocampus/dentate gyrus volume and hypothalamus metabolism in participants with major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Treatment-related alteration of cortisol predicts change in neuropsychological function during acute treatment of late-life anxiety disorder.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2012Trial
- Oxytocin as regulator of stress and inflammation in aging.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Major depressive disorder-alcohol use disorder comorbidity: diagnosis, mechanisms and treatment.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Altered hippocampal lipid profile underlies anxiety-like behavior secondary to mild traumatic brain injury.Molecular and cellular biochemistry · 2026Article
- HIF-1α and HIF-2α Are Upregulated in the Hippocampus but Not in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex in Experimental PTSD.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Higher baseline CSF cortisol is associated with adverse 24-month tau-related, neuroimaging, and cognitive outcomes across the Alzheimer's disease continuum.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- Thalamic, Hippocampal, and Amygdalar subregional volumetric alterations in neonates with isolated aEEG abnormalities.Neuroradiology · 2026Article
- Silymarin reverses post-traumatic stress-induced memory impairment in mice by containment of oxidative stress, cholinergic dysfunction, and modulation of neuronal caspase-3 expression.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Ginkgo biloba extract mitigates behavioral deficits, oxidative stress, and hippocampal remodeling in a rat model of PTSD.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Mind-Body Interventions as Modulators of Neural Connectivity and Cognition in Individuals at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Review
- Differential Associations Between Religiosity and Cognition in the Korean Elderly With Alzheimer's Disease.Psychiatry investigation · 2026Article
- A Flupirtine Benzyl Carbamate Improves Neurocognitive Deficits and Molecular Pathology in theCells · 2026Article
- Maladaptive Neuroplasticity Under Stress: Insights into Neuronal and Synaptic Changes in the Prefrontal Cortex.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Machine learning-based nomogram for predicting depressive symptoms in women: A cross-sectional study in Guangdong Province, China.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
- Hippocampal area CA2 activity supports social investigation following an acute social stress.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
127 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The hippocampus, a limbic structure important in learning and memory, is particularly sensitive to chronic stress and to glucocorticoids. While glucocorticoids are essential for an effective stress response, their oversecretion was originally hypothesized to contribute to age-related hippocampal degeneration. However, conflicting findings were reported on whether prolonged exposure to elevated glucocorticoids endangered the hippocampus and whether the primate hippocampus even responded to glucocorticoids as the rodent hippocampus did. This review discusses the seemingly inconsistent findings about the effects of elevated and prolonged glucocorticoids on hippocampal health and proposes that a chronic stress history, which includes repeated elevation of glucocorticoids, may make the hippocampus vulnerable to potential injury. Studies are described to show that chronic stress or prolonged exposure to glucocorticoids can compromise the hippocampus by producing dendritic retraction, a reversible form of plasticity that includes dendritic restructuring without irreversible cell death. Conditions that produce dendritic retraction are hypothesized to make the hippocampus vulnerable to neurotoxic or metabolic challenges. Of particular interest is the finding that the hippocampus can recover from dendritic retraction without any noticeable cell loss. When conditions surrounding dendritic retraction are present, the potential for harm is increased because dendritic retraction may persist for weeks, months or even years, thereby broadening the window of time during which the hippocampus is vulnerable to harm, called the 'glucocorticoid vulnerability hypothesis'. The relevance of these findings is discussed with regard to conditions exhibiting parallels in hippocampal plasticity, including Cushing's disease, major depressive disorder (MDD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.