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62 - Corticotropin-Releasing Factor: Putative Neurotransmitter Actions of a Neurohormone
Book chapter

62 - Corticotropin-Releasing Factor: Putative Neurotransmitter Actions of a Neurohormone

Rita J. Valentino and Elisabeth Van Bockstaele
Hormones, Brain and Behavior, Five-Volume Set, pp 81,XXVI-102,XXVI
2002

Abstract

This chapter discusses the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF). CRF was originally characterized as the hypothalamic neurohormone that promotes adrenocorticotropin release in response to stressors, initiating the cascade of responses linked to corticosteroid secretion. This endocrine limb of the stress response is generally considered a hallmark of stress. However, the stress response is also characterized by autonomic, behavioral, and immunological changes as a consequence of the engagement of specific neuronal systems. Following the identification and characterization of CRF as a neurohormone, convergent findings from several laboratories implicated CRF as a neuromodulator that was involved in engaging these neuronal systems during stress. It is important to note that the central administration of CRF antibody or antagonists could prevent similar autonomic and behavioral stress-elicited effects, emphasizing a role for central CRF in these nonendocrine aspects of stress.

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