PMID- 23568325
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140404
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1740-634X (Electronic)
IS  - 0893-133X (Print)
IS  - 0893-133X (Linking)
VI  - 38
IP  - 9
DP  - 2013 Aug
TI  - Hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor is centrally involved in learning 
      under moderate stress.
PG  - 1825-32
LID - 10.1038/npp.2013.82 [doi]
AB  - The corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) neuropeptide is found to have a pivotal 
      role in the regulation of the behavioral and neuroendocrine responses to 
      stressful challenges. Here, we studied the involvement of the hypothalamic CRF in 
      learning under stressful conditions. We have used a site-specific viral approach 
      to knockdown (KD) CRF expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the 
      hypothalamus (PVN). The two-way shuttle avoidance (TWSA) task was chosen to 
      assess learning and memory under stressful conditions. Control animals learned to 
      shuttle from one side to the other to avoid electrical foot shock by responding 
      to a tone. Novel object and social recognition tasks were used to assess memory 
      under less stressful conditions. KD of PVN-CRF expression decreased the number of 
      avoidance responses in a TWSA session under moderate (0.8 mA), but not strong 
      (1.5 mA), stimulus intensity compared to control rats. On the other hand, KD of 
      PVN-CRF had no effect on memory performance in the less stressful novel object or 
      social recognition tasks. Interestingly, basal or stress-induced corticosterone 
      levels in CRF KD rats were not significantly different from controls. Taken 
      together, the data suggest that the observed impairment was not a result of 
      alteration in HPA axis activity, but rather due to reduced PVN-CRF activity on 
      other brain areas. We propose that hypothalamic CRF is centrally involved in 
      learning under moderate stressful challenge. Under 'basal' (less stressful) 
      conditions or when the intensity of the stress is more demanding, central CRF 
      ceases to be the determinant factor, as was indicated by performances in the TWSA 
      with higher stimulus intensity or in the less stressful tasks of object and 
      social recognition.
FAU - Lucas, Morgan
AU  - Lucas M
AD  - The Institute for the Study of Affective Neuroscience, Haifa, Israel.
FAU - Chen, Alon
AU  - Chen A
FAU - Richter-Levin, Gal
AU  - Richter-Levin G
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20130408
PL  - England
TA  - Neuropsychopharmacology
JT  - Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of 
      Neuropsychopharmacology
JID - 8904907
RN  - 9015-71-8 (Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone)
RN  - W980KJ009P (Corticosterone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Avoidance Learning/physiology
MH  - Corticosterone/blood
MH  - Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone/genetics/metabolism/*physiology
MH  - Gene Knockdown Techniques
MH  - Learning/*physiology
MH  - Male
MH  - Memory/physiology
MH  - Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus/metabolism/*physiology
MH  - Rats
MH  - Recognition, Psychology/physiology
MH  - Stress, Psychological/blood/*metabolism/psychology
PMC - PMC3717532
EDAT- 2013/04/10 06:00
MHDA- 2014/04/05 06:00
PMCR- 2014/08/01
CRDT- 2013/04/10 06:00
PHST- 2012/09/12 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/02/28 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2013/03/01 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/04/10 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/04/10 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/04/05 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2014/08/01 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - npp201382 [pii]
AID - 10.1038/npp.2013.82 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Neuropsychopharmacology. 2013 Aug;38(9):1825-32. doi: 10.1038/npp.2013.82. Epub 
      2013 Apr 8.