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The Influence of β-Blockers on Delayed Memory Function in People With Cognitive Impairment
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The Influence of β-Blockers on Delayed Memory Function in People With Cognitive Impairment

Gediminas Gliebus and Carol F. Lippa
American journal of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, v 22(1), pp 57-61
Feb 2007
PMID: 17534003
url
https://doi.org/10.1177/1533317506295889View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Maybe Open Access (Publisher Bronze) Open

Abstract

β-blocker adrenergic CNS dementia memory Alzheimer’s disease
Adrenergic signaling is important for the retrieval of intermediate-term contextual and spatial memories. The role of norepinephrine in retrieval requires signaling through β1-adrenergic receptors in the hippocampus. Environmental cues activate the locus ceruleus, the main adrenergic nucleus of the brain, when an environmental stimulus is memorable. This leads to norepinephrine activation in the hippocampus, which is important for retrieving memories. Although β-blockers do not impair cognition in normal subjects, this article explores the possibility that central nervous system (CNS)-active β-blockers could affect delayed memory in patients with cognitive impairment. The authors investigated the influence of β-blockers on delayed memory function in cognitively impaired patients. There was a trend for worse delayed memory retrieval in patients who were on CNS-active β-blockers. These data support the notion that common medications used in cognitively impaired elderly patients can worsen cognition and that careful selection of medications may help to maximize retrieval of newly formed memories.

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