PURPOSE Urocortin 3 is a key neuromodulator in the regulation of stress, anxiety, food intake, gut motility, and energy homeostasis, while ghrelin elicits feeding behavior and enhances gastric emptying, adiposity, and positive energy balance. However, the interplays between urocortin 3 and ghrelin on food intake and gastric emptying remain uninvestigated. METHODS We examined the differential ...

OBJECTIVE Urocortin possesses cardioprotective properties against the damaging effects of ischemia/reperfusion injury. Our previous study demonstrated that urocortin can induce both endothelium-dependent and -independent coronary relaxation. However, the mechanisms thereby urocortin triggers endothelium-independent relaxation have not been investigated. The present study aimed to examine the ro...

Recently, novel corticotropin-releasing factor-related peptides, named urocortin 1, 2, and 3, and a distinct cardiac and peripheral vascular receptor (corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2) were described being part of a peripheral corticotropin-releasing factor system modulating cardiovascular function in response to stress. Vasorelaxation and blood pressure lowering have been reported aft...

Urocortin and urocortin II are members of the corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) family of neuropeptides that function to regulate stress responses. Two high-affinity G-protein-coupled receptors have been identified that bind CRH and/or urocortin I and II, designated CRHR1 and CRHR2, both of which are present in hippocampal regions of mammalian brain. The hippocampus plays an important role ...

OBJECTIVE Urocortin is a neuropeptide, member of the corticotropin-releasing hormone family, that is produced by the human endometrium. Ovarian endometrioma is a prevalent gynecologic disorder still lacking specific serum markers. In the present study we measured systemic levels of urocortin to assess the diagnostic performance of its determination in distinguishing endometriomas from other ben...

Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) induces neurogenesis, reduces feeding, and induces weight loss. However, the central mechanisms by which CNTF acts are vague. We employed the mHypoE-20/2 line that endogenously expresses the CNTF receptor to examine the direct effects of CNTF on mRNA levels of urocortin-1, urocortin-2, agouti-related peptide, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotensin....

Urocortin, is a recently isolated peptide belonging to the CRH family that binds with high affinity to the CRH2 receptor. Like CRH, urocortin causes hypotension in the rat, but its vasoactive actions have not yet been studied in the human. We have compared the vasoactive properties of urocortin, CRH, and urotensin-1 in the human fetal placental vasculature in vitro. Single placental lobules wer...

Although acute administration of urocortin 2 has beneficial actions in heart failure, the integrated hemodynamic, hormonal, and renal effects of sustained urocortin 2 treatment in this disease have not been investigated. In the current study, we administered a 4-day infusion of a vehicle control (0.9% saline; n 6) or urocortin 2 (0.75 g/kg per hour; n 6) to sheep with pacing-induced heart failu...

Objective: Urocortin possesses cardioprotective properties against the damaging effects of ischemia / reperfusion injury. Our previous study demonstrated that urocortin can induce both endothelium-dependent and -independent coronary relaxation. However, the mechanisms thereby urocortin triggers endothelium-independent relaxation have not been investigated. The present study aimed to 21 1 examin...

Recently, novel corticotropin-releasing factor-related peptides, named urocortin 1, 2, and 3, and a distinct cardiac and peripheral vascular receptor (corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2) were described being part of a peripheral corticotropin-releasing factor system modulating cardiovascular function in response to stress. Vasorelaxation and blood pressure lowering have been reported aft...