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Science 9 August 1996:
Vol. 273. no. 5276, pp. 749 - 750
DOI: 10.1126/science.273.5276.749

Perspectives

Robert M. Sapolsky

Several recent studies of humans correlate stress with atrophy of the hippocampus, an area of the brain required for memory and cognition. In his Perspective, Sapolsky argues that the underlying causal agent may be glucocorticoids secreted in abnormally high amounts under stressful conditions.


The author is in the Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.


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