Emotionally arousing or stressful experiences induce strong and lasting memories. This thesis examines the effects of norepinephrine (NE) and glucocorticoid hormones—corticosterone in rodents and cortisol in humans (CORT)—on memory strength and specificity. It also investigates whether stress prior to memory retrieval modulates memory specificity and whether these effects depend on energy availability, particularly in the context of mitochondrial dysfunction.
The results indicate that not all behavioral tasks are suitable across species (rats vs. mice), and that stress exacerbates deficits associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Additionally, post-training stress produces brain activation patterns similar to those observed after extensive training in stressful tasks in mice. Overall, the findings show that stress prior to retention testing influences hippocampal mitochondrial activity. Along with the nuanced roles of CA1 and CA3 regions within the hippocampus for episodic-like memory.