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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Sep 26.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2011 May;1226:14–33. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06037.x

Figure 6.

Figure 6

Glucocorticoid hormones, secreted as a result of a stressful event, enhance the consolidation of behavioral responses, including memories related to the event. Until recently, the underlying mechanisms of these effects were unknown. Recent work of the Reul group at the University of Bristol shows that glucocorticoids act by binding to glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) that interact with the NMDA receptor-activated ERK1/2/MSK1-Elk-1 signaling pathway enhancing the formation of epigenetic modifications (i.e., the serine10 phosphorylation and lysine14 acetylation in histone H3 (H3S10p-K14ac)) and the induction of the neuroplasticity-associated immediate-early genes c-Fos and Egr-1 in sparsely distributed mature dentate gyrus neurons. Evidence has been accumulating that these signaling, epigenetic, and genomic phenomena are of critical importance for the consolidation of memories related to the endured stressful event.