New corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) antagonists in irritable bowel disease (IBS) warrant testing, and CRF1 receptors may be a promising target for the treatment of IBS.

Whole-cell patch-clamp and extracellular field recordings were obtained from 450-microns-thick brain slices of infant rats (10-13 days postnatal) to determine the actions of corticotropin-releasing hormone on glutamate- and GABA-mediated synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. Synthetic corticotropin-releasing hormone (0.15 microM) reversibly increased the excitability of hippocampal pyramida...

Developmental, physiological, and behavioral adjustments in response to environmental change are crucial for animal survival. In vertebrates, the neuroendocrine stress system, comprised of the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal/interrenal glands (HPA/HPI axis) plays a central role in adaptive stress responses. Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is the primary hypothalamic neurohormone regul...

S ensitization is a ubiquitous biological phenomenon that has a role in the neuroadaptation of many different functions, from learning and memory to stress responsivity. Historically, a specific form of sensitization termed psychomotor sensitization (mistermed in my view as ‘‘behavioral sensitization’’) is induced by repeated administration of drugs of abuse and has been linked to the neuroadap...

Social interactions are a main source of stress in vertebrates. Social stressors, as well as other stressors, activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis resulting in glucocorticoid release. One of the main components of the HPA axis is corticotropin releasing factor (CRF). The neuropeptide CRF is part of a peptide family including CRF, urocortin 1-3, urotensin 1-3, and sauvagine. Th...

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) was characterized, purified and synthesized in 1981 by Vale. The composition of this 41 amino-acid peptide varies slightly from one species to another. Its principal origin is the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and, by the portal vessels, it reaches the adenohypophysis where it stimulates the corticotrophs. The effects of CRF have been analysed ...

Arato M. Banki CM, Bissette G, Nemeroff CB, Elevated CSF CRH in suicide victims. Biological Psychiatry 1989;25:355—359. Baker DG, West SA, Nicholson WE, Ekhator NN, KasckoW JW, Hill KK, Bruce AB, Orth DN, Geracioti TD Jr. Serial CSF corticotropin—releasing hormone levels and adrenocor tical activity in combat veterans With post—traumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry 1999;156:585—588. Banki ...

Ten polypeptides that stimulated the release of corticotropin from superfused rat pituitary cells and that are structurally related to porcine corticotropin-releasing factor were isolated from porcine hypothalami. The purification was carried out by gel filtration followed by reversed-phase HPLC using trifluoroacetic acid or heptafluorobutyric acid as the ion-pairing agent in water/acetonitrile...