Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is a neuroprotective peptide

The corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is a major mediator of the stress response in the central nervous system by affecting the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis. Chronic CRH hyperdrive leads to anxiety-related disorders including depression. Therefore, a stable CRH level is necessary for an appropriate stress response. Furthermore, CRH also affects other central processes, such as learning and memory, synaptic plasticity and mediates neuroprotection. By binding to its high-affinity cell surface receptor, the CRH receptor type 1, CRH induces neuroprotective signalling in a brain region-specific manner in extrahypothalamic sites (1). Recent studies show, that CRH exhibits neuroprotective properties in primary cultures and cell lines in response to certain toxins. Moreover, CRH can directly increase the expression of a potent neuroprotective factor, the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) (2,3). Alternatively, neuroprotective effects of CRH may involve the inhibition of pathways leading to cell death. We investigated activity of CRH in brain slices and observed CRH receptor-mediated neuroprotective action which may involve MAP kinase activation and BDNF upregulation.

This project is funded by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BE 1475/4–1) to Christian Behl.

References:

1. Bayatti et al., Endocrinology 144, 2003

2. Bayatti et al., Endocrinology 146, 2005

3. Elliott-Hunt et al., Journal of Neurochemistry, 2002