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CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 differentially modulate dendritic outgrowth of hippocampal neurons

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Abstract

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) has been implicated to be involved in the development of dendrites in brain. In the present study, we examined the effect of CRH on dendrite outgrowth in primary cultured hippocampal neurons and defined the specific CRH receptor subtype involved. Treatment of neurons with increasing concentration of CRH resulted in an increase in the total dendritic branch length (TDBL) of neurons compared with untreated neurons over 2–4 days period of treatment. These effects can be reversed by the specific CRH-R1 antagonist antalarmin but not by the CRH-R2 antagonist astressin 2B. Treatment of neurons with urocortin II, the exclusive CRH-R2 agonist, significantly decreased TDBL of the cultured neurons. These effects can be reversed by the CRH-R2 antagonist astressin 2B. Our results suggest that CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 differentially modulate the dendritic growth of hippocampal neurons in culture.

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Acknowledgment

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB512303), Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30900434 and No. 31100840), and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipals (09XD1405600, 09ZR1439800, and 11ZR1446700). All the experiments in this manuscript comply with Chinese laws.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Second Military Medical University, 800 Xiangyin Road, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Sheng, Yongjun Xu, Yanming Chen, Yanmin Zhang & Xin Ni

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohui Xu & Cheng He

  3. The Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology of Ministry of Education, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Sheng, Yongjun Xu, Yanming Chen, Yanmin Zhang, Xiaohui Xu, Cheng He & Xin Ni

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  1. Hui Sheng
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  2. Yongjun Xu
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  3. Yanming Chen
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  4. Yanmin Zhang
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  7. Xin Ni
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Correspondence to Xin Ni.

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Sheng, H., Xu, Y., Chen, Y. et al. CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 differentially modulate dendritic outgrowth of hippocampal neurons. Endocrine 41, 458–464 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-012-9603-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-012-9603-5

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