This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Seres, J. Articles by Ehrhart-Bornstein, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Seres, J. Articles by Ehrhart-Bornstein, M.

Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone System in Human Adipose Tissue

German Diabetes Center (J.S., P.S., W.A.S., M.E.-B.), Department of Endocrinology, Medical Center (S.R.B., H.S.W.), and Department of Surgery (K.M.S.), Heinrich Heine University of Duesseldorf, Duesseldorf 65 40225, Germany

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Monika Ehrhart-Bornstein, Ph.D., German Diabetes Center, Auf’m Hennekamp 65, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany. E-mail: ehrhart-bornstein{at}ddfi uni-duesseldorf.de.

Mounting evidence exists for a role of the CRH system in energy balance, including a direct influence on human adipocytes, the regulation of adipose 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 activity, and cortisol formation. We characterized the expression of CRH receptors 1 and 2 and CRH-like peptides stresscopin and urocortin in human adipose tissue in comparison with other peripheral tissues, adrenal, and heart. The effect of CRH on CRH receptor and CRH-like peptide expression was analyzed in isolated human adipocytes using quantitative TaqMan PCR. CRH receptors were detectable in fat tissue at mRNA and protein levels. CRH-R2 expression in fat was comparable with its expression in the heart, the organ with the highest CRH-R2 expression known. CRH-R1:CRH-R2 ratio varied according to fat-depot type; whereas CRH-R1 expression was higher in sc fat than in visceral fat, the opposite was true for CRH-R2. Adipose tissue also expressed urocortin and stresscopin, the predominant ligands of peripheral CRH-R2. CRH down-regulated CRH-R1 and CRH-R2 mRNA expression in isolated adipocytes. These data, together with the recently published observation that CRH regulates adipocyte metabolism by down-regulating 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, indicate that a CRH system exists within human adipose tissue. This system could be implicated in energy homeostasis and in mediating the anorexic effects of CRH at adipose level.

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant Eh 161/2-4) (to M.E.-B.).

Abbreviations: CRH-R, CRH receptor; 11ß-HSD1, 11ß-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. W. Hillhouse and D. K. Grammatopoulos The Molecular Mechanisms Underlying the Regulation of the Biological Activity of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptors: Implications for Physiology and Pathophysiology Endocr. Rev., May 1, 2006; 27(3): 260 - 286. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Fukuda, K. Takahashi, T. Suzuki, M. Saruta, M. Watanabe, T. Nakata, and H. Sasano Urocortin 1, Urocortin 3/Stresscopin, and Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Receptors in Human Adrenal and Its Disorders J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., August 1, 2005; 90(8): 4671 - 4678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Teli, D. Markovic, M. A. Levine, E. W. Hillhouse, and D. K. Grammatopoulos Regulation of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor Type 1{alpha} Signaling: Structural Determinants for G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase-Mediated Phosphorylation and Agonist-Mediated Desensitization Mol. Endocrinol., February 1, 2005; 19(2): 474 - 490. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Guillemin Hypothalamic hormones a.k.a. hypothalamic releasing factors J. Endocrinol., January 1, 2005; 184(1): 11 - 28. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]