Activation of raphe efferents to the medial prefrontal cortex by corticotropin-releasing factor: correlation with anxiety-like behavior.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Parallel lines of research suggest that dysfunction affecting both corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and serotonin (5-HT) systems is involved in the pathophysiology of psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety and depression. The effect of CRF on behavior and on the accompanying change in activity of 5-HT neurons in the dorsal and median raphe nuclei (DR and MR) that project to the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a brain area implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, was studied.

Methods

Male Sprague-Dawley rats with intra-mPFC deposits of fluorescent microspheres received injections of CRF (1 microg, intracerebroventricular [i.c.v.]) and were tested for CRF-enhanced startle, a behavioral assay believed to reflect stress- or anxiety-like states. C-Fos immu

SUBMITTER: Meloni EG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2362385 | biostudies-literature | 2008 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature