Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Fast Forward
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Sections
    • Archive
  • Information
    • Instructions to Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • FAQs
    • For Subscribers
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
    • Permissions
  • Editorial Board
  • Alerts
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
  • Virtual Issues
  • Feedback
  • Submit
  • Other Publications
    • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
    • Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
    • Molecular Pharmacology
    • Pharmacological Reviews
    • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
    • ASPET

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
  • Other Publications
    • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
    • Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
    • Molecular Pharmacology
    • Pharmacological Reviews
    • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
    • ASPET
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current Issue
    • Fast Forward
    • Latest Articles
    • Special Sections
    • Archive
  • Information
    • Instructions to Authors
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • FAQs
    • For Subscribers
    • Terms & Conditions of Use
    • Permissions
  • Editorial Board
  • Alerts
    • Alerts
    • RSS Feeds
  • Virtual Issues
  • Feedback
  • Submit
  • Visit jpet on Facebook
  • Follow jpet on Twitter
  • Follow jpet on LinkedIn
Research ArticlePERSPECTIVES IN PHARMACOLOGY

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Brain: A Role in Activation, Arousal, and Affect Regulation

Stephen C. Heinrichs and George F. Koob
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics November 2004, 311 (2) 427-440; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.103.052092
Stephen C. Heinrichs
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
George F. Koob
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Organisms exposed to challenging stimuli that alter the status quo inside or outside of the body are required for survival purposes to generate appropriate coping responses that counteract departures from homeostasis. Identification of an executive control mechanism within the brain capable of coordinating the multitude of endocrine, physiological, and functional coping responses has high utility for understanding the response of the organism to stressor exposure under normal or pathological conditions. The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)/urocortin family of neuropeptides and receptors constitutes an affective regulatory system due to the integral role it plays in controlling neural substrates of arousal, emotionality, and aversive processes. In particular, available evidence from pharmacological intervention in multiple species and phenotyping of mutant mice shows that CRF/urocortin systems mediate motor and psychic activation, stimulus avoidance, and threat recognition responses to aversive stimulus exposure. It is suggested that affective regulation is exerted by CRF/urocortin systems within the brain based upon the sensitivity of local brain sites to CRF/urocortin ligand administration and the appearance of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical activation following stressor exposure. Moreover, these same stress neuropeptides may constitute a mechanism for learning to avoid noxious stimuli by facilitating the formation of so-called emotional memories. A conceptual framework is provided for extrapolation of animal model findings to humans and for viewing CRF/urocortin activation as a continuum measure linking normal and pathological states.

Footnotes

  • G.F.K. is supported by National Institutes of Health Grant DK26741 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. S.C.H. is supported by a Research Incentive Grant from Boston College.

  • doi:10.1124/jpet.103.052092.

  • ABBREVIATIONS: CRF, corticotropin-releasing factor; HPA, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal; ACTH, adrenocorticotropin hormone; CP-154,526, N-butyl-N-[2,5-dimethyl-7-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-7H-pyrrolo(2,3-d)pyrimidin-4-yl]-N-ethylamine; oCRF, ovine CRF; CRF-BP, CRF-binding protein.

    • Received March 20, 2004.
    • Accepted August 5, 2004.
  • The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
View Full Text

JPET articles become freely available 12 months after publication, and remain freely available for 5 years. 

Non-open access articles that fall outside this five year window are available only to institutional subscribers and current ASPET members, or through the article purchase feature at the bottom of the page. 

 

  • Click here for information on institutional subscriptions.
  • Click here for information on individual ASPET membership.

 

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics: 311 (2)
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Vol. 311, Issue 2
1 Nov 2004
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Brain: A Role in Activation, Arousal, and Affect Regulation
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Research ArticlePERSPECTIVES IN PHARMACOLOGY

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Brain: A Role in Activation, Arousal, and Affect Regulation

Stephen C. Heinrichs and George F. Koob
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics November 1, 2004, 311 (2) 427-440; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.103.052092

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero

Share
Research ArticlePERSPECTIVES IN PHARMACOLOGY

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor in Brain: A Role in Activation, Arousal, and Affect Regulation

Stephen C. Heinrichs and George F. Koob
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics November 1, 2004, 311 (2) 427-440; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1124/jpet.103.052092
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Relevance of CRF Systems for Affective Neuroscience
    • Modulation of Avoidance, Approach, and Arousal by Stress and CRF Systems
    • Neuropharmacological Mechanisms for CRF Systems
    • Learning and Memory Modulation: Fine Tuning Affect
    • Behavioral Phenotype of CRF Mutant Mice
    • Summary
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Acute and Delayed Clinical Manifestations of OP Toxicity
  • Miltefosine as Mediator of the Immune Response
  • Histamine Receptor Knockout Mice
Show more Perspectives in Pharmacology

Similar Articles

Advertisement
  • Home
  • Alerts
Facebook   Twitter   LinkedIn   RSS

Navigate

  • Current Issue
  • Fast Forward by date
  • Fast Forward by section
  • Latest Articles
  • Archive
  • Search for Articles
  • Feedback
  • ASPET

More Information

  • About JPET
  • Editorial Board
  • Instructions to Authors
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Customized Alerts
  • RSS Feeds
  • Subscriptions
  • Permissions
  • Terms & Conditions of Use

ASPET's Other Journals

  • Drug Metabolism and Disposition
  • Molecular Pharmacology
  • Pharmacological Reviews
  • Pharmacology Research & Perspectives
ISSN 1521-0103 (Online)

Copyright © 2022 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics