HPA axis dysregulation in mice overexpressing corticotropin releasing hormone

2002 ◽  
Vol 51 (11) ◽  
pp. 875-881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucianne Groenink ◽  
Anneloes Dirks ◽  
P.Monika Verdouw ◽  
Marlies lutje Schipholt ◽  
Jan G Veening ◽  
...  
1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger G. Kathol ◽  
Richard S. Jaeckle ◽  
Juan F. Lopez ◽  
William H. Meller

Eleven patients with major depression and 12 control subjects were administered corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), aqueous arginine vasopressin (AVP), and insulin hypoglycaemia (IH) to test for differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis function. Patients with major depression demonstrated lower ACTH responses to CRH when compared with controls, and a trend toward such after administration of AVP. Despite lower ACTH responses in patients with depression, there were no differences in Cortisol responses to these stimuli. In the CRH and AVP tests, there was no correlation between the basal Cortisol and ACTH responses in either controls or patients, but in the IH test there was a negative correlation between these responses for both groups. The ACTH responses to CRH and AVP were positively correlated in controls and patients. Cortisol responses to all three provocative stimuli were positively correlated in both subject groups. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that hypothalamic or supra-hypothalamic overactivity may be involved in the development of HPA-axis abnormalities in patients with depression.


1999 ◽  
Vol 27 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. A144
Author(s):  
Stefan Schroeder ◽  
Maria Wichers ◽  
Lutz E Lehmann ◽  
Christian Putensen ◽  
Andreas Hoeft ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Borges Machado ◽  
Sergio Tufik ◽  
Deborah Suchecki

Studies have shown that sleep recovery following different protocols of forced waking varies according to the level of stress inherent to each method. Sleep deprivation activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increased corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) impairs sleep. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how manipulations of the CRH system during the sleep deprivation period interferes with subsequent sleep rebound. Throughout 96 hours of sleep deprivation, separate groups of rats were treated i.c.v. with vehicle, CRH or with alphahelical , a CRH receptor blocker, twice/day, at 07:00 h and 19:00 h. Both treatments impaired sleep homeostasis, especially in regards to length of rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and theta/delta ratio and induced a later decrease in NREM and REM sleep and increased waking bouts. These changes suggest that activation of the CRH system impact negatively on the homeostatic sleep response to prolonged forced waking. These results indicate that indeed, activation of the HPA axis—at least at the hypothalamic level—is capable to reduce the sleep rebound induced by sleep deprivation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Qing ◽  
Peng Xiong ◽  
Yumei Lu ◽  
Hongyan Jiang ◽  
Shengjie Nie

Abstract Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a common mental disease causing severe chronic disability. Epigenetic changes in HPA axis-related genes are considered to play an important role in SCZ pathogenesis. Unfortunately, the methylation status of the corticotropin-releasing hormone ( CRH ) gene, which is the central driving force in the HPA axis, has not been reported in SCZ patients. Here, we used the sodium bisulfite and MethylTarget methods to detect the DNA methylation status of the CRH gene coding region in peripheral blood samples from 70 schizophrenic patients and 68 healthy controls. The results showed that the methylation level of the CRH gene CDS was significantly increased in SCZ patients, especially in the male subgroup. In conclusion, this study showed that differences in CRH gene CDS methylation were detectable in the peripheral blood of SCZ patients and that epigenetic abnormalities in the CRH gene were closely related to SCZ, revealing that epigenetic processes may mediate the pathophysiology of SCZ. Further research should address the underlying mechanism whereby CRH gene methylation regulates the occurrence and development of SCZ.


2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mar M. Sanchez ◽  
Kai Mccormack ◽  
Alison P. Grand ◽  
Richelle Fulks ◽  
Anne Graff ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this study we investigated the development of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis in 21 group-living rhesus monkeys infants that were physically abused by their mothers in the first few months of life and in 21 nonabused controls. Cortisol and adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) responses to a corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) challenge were assessed at 6-month intervals during the subjects' first 3 years of life. Abused infants exhibited greater cortisol responses to CRH than controls across the 3 years. Abused infants also exhibited blunted ACTH secretion in response to CRH, especially at 6 months of age. Although there were no significant sex differences in abuse experienced early in life, females showed a greater cortisol response to CRH than males at all ages. There were no significant sex differences in the ACTH response to CRH, or significant interactions between sex and abuse in the ACTH or cortisol response. Our findings suggest that early parental maltreatment results in greater adrenocortical, and possibly also pituitary, responsiveness to challenges later in life. These long-term alterations in neuroendocrine function may be one the mechanisms through which infant abuse results in later psychopathologies. Our study also suggests that there are developmental sex differences in adrenal function that occur irrespective of early stressful experience. The results of this study can enhance our understanding of the long-term effects of child maltreatment as well as our knowledge of the development of the HPA axis in human and nonhuman primates.


1995 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Biglino ◽  
Paolo Limone ◽  
Brunella Forno ◽  
Annamaria Pollono ◽  
Giuseppe Cariti ◽  
...  

Biglino A, Limone P, Forno B, Pollono A, Cariti G, Molinatti GM, Gioannini P. Altered adrenocorticotropin and cortisol response to corticotropin-releasing hormone in HIV-I infection. Eur J Endocrinol 1995;133:173-9. ISSN 0804-4643 Alterations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are common in HIV infection. To characterize further the site of these derangements and their possible causes, eight male drug addicts with symptomatic HIV infection (stage IV C2) underwent the following investigations: repeated baseline determinations of cortisol, adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6 and interferon alpha (IFN-α): and ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) test (100 μg IV) for ACTH and cortisol determinations. Baseline cortisol levels were either normal or elevated in all patients. A significant positive linear correlation was found between baseline levels of cortisol and both IL-6 (r=0.955; p<0.001) and IL-1β (r=0.863; p<0.005), but not between cortisol and ACTH or between ACTH and circulating cytokines. Both ACTH and cortisol responses to CRH were nearly absent in six out of eight patients, and delayed in the others. The areas under the curves of both ACTH and cortisol after CRH were significantly lower in HIV patients than in a group of eight healthy control subjects (p=0.0157 for ACTH and p=0.046 for cortisol). Our data suggest the possibility of an inappropriate stimulation of the HPA axis in symptomatic HIV infection by HIV-induced release of cytokines, with a blunted pituitary and adrenal response to CRH. Paolo Limone, Institute of Internal Medicine, University of Torino, C.so AM Dogliotti 14, 10126 Torino, Italy


1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce G. Charlton ◽  
I. Nicol Ferrier

SynopsisA wide range of abnormalities of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been described in depression. This paper reviews recent advances in the understanding of this system, and draws them together to construct a model for the purposes of further research and discussion. It is proposed that there are two fundamental changes which both originate in the hypothalamus: an increased secretion of corticotropin-releasing hormone, and a neurally mediated adrenal hyper-responsivity to ACTH. The resulting changes in hormone regulation would be expected to produce all the characteristic HPA axis abnormalities commonly seen in depression. The model makes several predictions which could be tested by future experiment.


2000 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 979-1020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Slominski ◽  
Jacobo Wortsman ◽  
Thomas Luger ◽  
Ralf Paus ◽  
Samuel Solomon

The skin is a known target organ for the proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived neuropeptides α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH), β-endorphin, and ACTH and also a source of these peptides. Skin expression levels of the POMC gene and POMC/corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) peptides are not static but are determined by such factors as the physiological changes associated with hair cycle (highest in anagen phase), ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure, immune cytokine release, or the presence of cutaneous pathology. Among the cytokines, the proinflammatory interleukin-1 produces important upregulation of cutaneous levels of POMC mRNA, POMC peptides, and MSH receptors; UVR also stimulates expression of all the components of the CRH/POMC system including expression of the corresponding receptors. Molecular characterization of the cutaneous POMC gene shows mRNA forms similar to those found in the pituitary, which are expressed together with shorter variants. The receptors for POMC peptides expressed in the skin are functional and include MC1, MC5 and μ-opiate, although most predominant are those of the MC1 class recognizing MSH and ACTH. Receptors for CRH are also present in the skin. Because expression of, for example, the MC1 receptor is stimulated in a similar dose-dependent manner by UVR, cytokines, MSH peptides or melanin precursors, actions of the ligand peptides represent a stochastic (predictable) nonspecific response to environmental/endogenous stresses. The powerful effects of POMC peptides and probably CRH on the skin pigmentary, immune, and adnexal systems are consistent with stress-neutralizing activity addressed at maintaining skin integrity to restrict disruptions of internal homeostasis. Hence, cutaneous expression of the CRH/POMC system is highly organized, encoding mediators and receptors similar to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. This CRH/POMC skin system appears to generate a function analogous to the HPA axis, that in the skin is expressed as a highly localized response which neutralizes noxious stimuli and attendant immune reactions.


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