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Inhibitory effects of caffeine on hippocampal neurogenesis and function.

Han ME, Park KH, Baek SY, Kim BS, Kim JB, Kim HJ, Oh SO

Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, 1-10 Ami-Dong, Seo-Gu, Pusan 602-739, Republic of Korea.

Caffeine is one of the most extensively consumed psychostimulants in the world. However, compared to short-term effects of caffeine, the long-term effects of caffeine consumption on learning and memory are poorly characterized. The present study found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine (0.3 g/L) slowed hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory. Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal neurogenesis compared to controls. From these results, we concluded that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition of hippocampal neurogenesis.

Published 11 April 2007 in Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 356(4): 976-80.
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