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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2002;287:443.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Animal research suggests that a drug used to treat people with high stress levels can help restore memories lost to brain damage. The finding, by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, was published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience.

The researchers found that administering metyrapone, which limits circulation of the stress hormone corticosterone, to rats restored memories impaired by damage to the brain's hippocampus region. This region is easily damaged by neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, hypoxia, and illnesses related to stress.

In the study, cell lesions were induced in the CA3 region of the hippocampus by administering low doses of kainic acid. The rats were then trained in a water maze; their ability to negotiate the course was not affected by the lesions. But when tested a day later in the maze, memory was impaired—the rats needed, on average, twice the time to negotiate the maze. These . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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