Dexamethasone blocks sleep induced improvement of declarative memory
Abstract
To investigate the role of glucocorticoids for effects of early and late nocturnal sleep on declarative and procedural memory, 2 mg dexamethasone (versus placebo) were administered to healthy men 7 h prior to retention sleep. The retention sleep interval covered either the early or late half of nocturnal sleep. Following placebo, recall of a paired associate list (declarative memory) benefitted more from early than late sleep and recall of mirror tracing skills (procedural memory) benefitted more from late than early sleep. Dexamethasone did not affect slow wave sleep dominating early sleep, but blocked the beneficial effect of early sleep on recall of paired associates. Conversely, dexamethasone reduced rapid eye movement sleep dominating late sleep, but did not affect late sleeps beneficial effect on mirror tracing skills. The natural inhibition of endogenous glucocorticoid secretion during early sleep seems to be essential for a sleep-related facilitation of declarative memory.
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Increasing glucocorticoid levels during sleep by cortisol or dexamethasone impaired consolidation of memory for word pairs and temporal order in stories.
“Accordingly, increasing glucocorticoid levels during sleep by postlearning administration of cortisol or dexamethasone impaired consolidation of memory for word pairs and for the temporal order in stories (932, 933, 1323).”
From About Sleep's Role in Memory (2013) · cites this paper as [933]
Inhibition of cortisol secretion and inactivation of glucocorticoid receptors appear to be critical for hippocampus-mediated formation of declarative memories.
“Thus, inhibition of cortisol secretion and in particular inactivation of GRs appear to be critical for hippocampus-mediated formation of declarative memories.”
From Impact of Sleep and Its Disturbances on Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity (2010) · cites this paper as [55]
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- Authors
- Plihal, W., Pietrowsky, R., & Born, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Bamberg (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Plihal, Werner
- Venue
- Psychoneuroendocrinology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1999-04
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 313-331
- ISSN
- 0306-4530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2011841271
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 2.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychoneuroendocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- dexamethasone, glucocorticoids, sleep, declarative memory, procedural memory, slow-wave sleep, REM sleep, mirror tracing, memory consolidation
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Dexamethasone, Glucocorticoids, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Learning, Male, Memory, Placebos, Mental Recall, Sleep, Sleep Stages, Sleep, REM
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