New research from the University of Bristol has revealed that there is a lot of scope for developing drugs that can be used to treat specific memory issues.
O anti-inflammatory medicine most administered for a variety of diseases is the glucocorticoid, also known as steroids. However, these often negatively affect mood, sleep and memory, with patients suffering from cognitive decline and memory disturbances, reported the report. tech explorer.
In the study recently published in PNASthe team led by Becky Conway-Campbell sought to investigate the influence of steroid treatment on memory processes to determine whether the reported adverse effects were due to the medication or the underlying medical condition.
The investigators found that even a five-day use of steroids was associated with a decrease in memory function when completing a task that involved learning and memory.
According to an investigation carried out on rats, the medication considerably affected the hippocampusa critical brain region for memory and learning.
Hippocampal functional activity, as assessed by electrophysiological recordings, was severely decreased in methylprednisolone-treated rats, providing the first evidence of a root cause for memory loss.
The results provide new insights into the influence of steroid treatment on memory functions in the absence of underlying medical disorders.
Matthew Birnie, another of the authors, noted: “People who are prescribed steroids often report memory deficits. However, it has been difficult to see if this is the result of the underlying medical cause or if it is an adverse effect of the treatment itself.”
“We have shown that long-term steroid treatment can block the effectiveness (of memory) at any time of the day and can contribute to the fog experienced by many people” who take them, said Stafford Lightman, professor of medicine at the University of Bristol.
ZAP // 
