Corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA distribution and stress-induced activation in the thalamus

Corticotropin-releasing hormone plays a critical role in mediating the stress response. Brain circuits hypothesized to mediate stress include the thalamus, which plays a pivotal role in distributing sensory information to cortical and subcortical structures. In situ hybridization revealed neurons containing corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA in the posterior thalamic nuclear group and the central medial nucleus of the thalamus, which interfaces with the ventral posteromedial nucleus (parvicellular part). These regions are of interest because they process somatosensory and visceral information. In the first experiment, the effect of acute stress on thalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA levels was assessed. Rats restrained for 1 h and killed 1 h later were found to have increased corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA in the posterior thalamic nuclear group. The time course of these changes was examined in a second experiment in which rats were killed immediately or 3 h after restraint. While no changes occurred in the thalamus immediately after restraint, 3 h after restraint, increases in corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA occurred in both the posterior thalamic nuclear group and the central medial-ventral posteromedial nucleus (parvicellular part) of the thalamus. A different pattern of activation was observed in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus with increased corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA immediately after restraint, but not 1 or 3 h later. In addition to the stress-induced changes, a prominent decrease in baseline thalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA was observed from 1000 to 1300 h. These results show that the thalamus contains corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA that increases after restraint stress, indicating a role for thalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone systems in the stress response. Stress-induced changes in thalamic corticotropin-releasing hormone messenger RNA expression appears to be regulated differently than that in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and may be influenced by diurnal mechanisms.