Responding to stressful events requires numerous adaptive actions involving integrated changes in the central nervous and neuroendocrine systems. Numerous studies have implicated dysregulation of stress-response mechanisms in the etiology of stress-induced psychopathophysiologies. The urocortin neuropeptides are members of the corticotropin-releasing factor family and are associated with the ce...

The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) system is the primary central mediator of stress-like states, coordinating behavioral, endocrine, and autonomic responses to stress. Although induction of anorexia is a well documented effect of CRF receptor agonist administration, the central sites and behavioral processes underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. The present studies addressed t...

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a 41 amino acid peptide, mediates endocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stress. Whereas the CRF1 receptor appears to contribute to anxiety associated with stress, the role of the CRF2 receptor remains unclear and may depend on drug dose, brain location, or testing environment. Results involving treatments with selective CRF2 receptor agonists or...

Urocortin is a neuropeptide belonging to the corticotrophin-releasing hormone family and is expressed by eutopic and ectopic human endometrium and the last years is investigated in the field of endometriosis. The objective of this systematic review is to accumulate current evidence related to the expression of urocortin in tissue and blood samples of patients suffering from endometriosis. Liter...

It has now been two and a half decades since the seminal study by Vaughn and coworkers demonstrating the existence of the 41–amino acid corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), which plays a critical role in mediating the biological responses to stress.1 In 2001, using sequence homology searching tools, Reyes et al2 identified a mouse gene encoding a 38–amino acid peptide that represented a new me...

In Xenopus laevis, corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) and urocortin 1 are present in the brain and they both are potent stimulators of alpha-melanophore stimulating hormone (MSH) secretion by melanotroph cells in the pituitary gland. Because both CRF and urocortin 1 bind with high affinity to CRF receptor type 1 (CRF1) in mammals and Xenopus laevis, one of the purposes of the present study w...

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been employed as surface treatment agents in a variety of products. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are the two most commonly found PFCs in the environment and human blood. We investigated the effects of PFOS and PFOA on feeding behavior. PFOS or PFOA was administered intracerebroventricularly in mice or rats. Following adm...

Transcriptome analyses were performed in the anterior raphe area of mutant mice deficient in the serotonin transporter (5-HTT KO) or overexpressing this protein (5-HTT TG), which exhibit opposite changes in anxiety-related behavior. Among genes with altered expression, the gene encoding the neuropeptide urocortin 1 was down-regulated in 5-HTT KO and up-regulated in 5-HTT TG mice. Expression of ...

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