Hippocampus

Hippocampus plays an important role in two main processes:

• learning and memory

  • especially tasks that involve processes of spatial cues
  • evidence for sex differences in hippocampal structure
  • also evidence for sex differences in the performance of spatial tasks; gonadal steroids have been implicated in organizational and activational effects on performance
  • in the adult, changes in hippocampal structure accompany hormone changes during estrus

• �brake� on HPA axis

  • hippocampus possesses mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors
  • mineralocorticoid receptors are linked to circadian changes in HPA axis
  • glucocorticoid receptors are linked to terminating a stress response
  • chronic exposure to glucocorticoids can damage the hippocampus leading to higher levels of glucocorticoids, more hippocampal damage, and so on; damage to the hippocampus has been linked to memory deficits

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