Long-lasting effects of neonatal dexamethasone treatment on spatial learning and hippocampal synaptic plasticity: involvement of the NMDA receptorcomplex

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate long-term effects of neonatal treatment with the synthetic glucocorticoid (GC) hormone dexamethasone (DEX) on hippocampus functions in the rat. The questions we asked were 1) Does neonatal treatment with DEX lead to impaired hippocampus-dependent spatial learning later in life? 2) If so, is this impairment associated with a deficit in hippocampal synaptic plasticity, a putative neuronal substrate of learning? and 3) Does neonatal DEX treatment affect the postsynaptic hippocampal NMDA receptor complex, known to be critically involved in spatial learning and synaptic plasticity?