What does prolonged high cortisol do to neurons? · Grey Matter

Brief rises in cortisol help the brain store important events, but long exposure works differently.

What does prolonged high cortisol do to neurons?

Brief rises in cortisol help the brain store important events, but long exposure works differently. In animal studies, weeks of high glucocorticoid levels or chronic stress shorten and simplify the dendrites of hippocampal and prefrontal pyramidal cells and reduce their spines, while dendrites in the amygdala grow. These changes impair learning that depends on the hippocampus and flexible control by the prefrontal cortex, and in animals they largely reverse after the stress ends. Because the hippocampus also helps switch the stress axis off, damage to it can weaken that brake and prolong the exposure.