ABSTRACT Corticosterone (CORT) is the principal glucocortiocoid synthesized in rodent adrenal cortex and secreted in response to stress. Recently, it has been reported that, in addition to classical genomic effects which are activated via intracellular receptors, CORT acutely (within 30 min) modulates the long-term potentiation (LTP), which may occur independently of the regulation of gene transcription (i.e., non-genomic effect). For the activation of mechanism involved in LTP, an activity-dependent intracellular Ca2+ increase represents a key signal. The acute effects of CORT (appearing within 30 min) on Ca2+ signal transduction, however, have not been well elucidated in the hippocampus. This article reviews recent works made by our group and others on the acute effects of CORT on Ca2+ signals in the rodent hippocampus.
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