Annals of neurology
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Annals of neurology · Jun 2006
Effects of neonatal dexamethasone treatment on hippocampal synaptic function.
Synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEX) is frequently used as a therapeutic agent to lessen the morbidity of chronic lung disease in premature infants. Surprisingly, little is known about the long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of this therapy. ⋯ These results suggest that neonatal DEX treatment alters hippocampal synaptic plasticity and contextual fear memory formation in later life, but these impairments apparently are not permanent.