The effect of long-term treatment with phenobarbitone on pituitary responsiveness to gonadotrophin-releasing hormone and thyrotrophin-releasing hormone was studied in 20 boys being treated with the drug to prevent febrile convulsions. Baseline concentrations of luteinising and follicle-stimulating hormones were reduced as well as the responses of these hormones to stimulation with gonadotrophin...

The medial basal hypothalamus was isolated from the remainder of the brain of the rat using a Halász knife. Ten to 14 days after the surgical procedure the concentration of thyrotropin-releasing hormone within the island of hypothalamic tissue was 76% lower than in tissue from sham-operated control rats. Thus, much of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone that is normally present in the medial basa...

Corticotrophin-releasing hormone is a key regulator of the mammalian stress response. Although its actions on behavior are well documented, the actions of corticotrophin-releasing hormone in cortical neuronal systems are poorly understood. In the present experiments, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and field excitatory post-synaptic potential recordings were made from sensorimo...

Objective(s): To investigate the effects of paeoniflorin (PEF) on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis feedback function of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). cSingle-prolonged stress (SPS) was used to establish a PTSD-like rat model. The contents of plasma corticosterone (CORT), adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) and cortic...

The quality and availability of resources influence the geographical distribution of species. Social species need safe places to rest, meet, exchange information and obtain thermoregulatory benefits, but those places may also serve other important functions that have been overlooked in research. We use a large soaring bird that roosts communally in cliffs, the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus), as...

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), also known as corticotropin-releasing factor, is a highly conserved peptide hormone comprising 41 amino acid residues. Its name derives from its role in the anterior pituitary, where it mediates the release of corticotropin (ACTH) leading to the release of adrenocortical steroids. CRH is the major hypothalamic activator of the hypothalamic–pituitary– adren...

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and related peptides (urocortins, sauvagine, urotensin) play a central role in the co-ordination of autonomic, behavioural, cardiovascular, immune and endocrine responses to stressful stimuli. Their actions are mediated through activation of two types of G-protein-coupled receptors encoded by separate genes. In this review we focus on the diverse structural...