Seropositivity to louping ill virus in dogs in the UK.

Background: Louping ill virus (LIV) is a tick-borne flavivirus that can cause fatal meningoencephalomyelitis in dogs. Four dogs with confirmed LIV infection and a case series of dogs with suspected flavivirus infection have been reported in the UK. However, underreporting of LIV infection due to lack of testing is suspected.

Insulin resistance and sarcopenia: mechanistic links between common co-morbidities.

Insulin resistance (IR) in skeletal muscle is a key defect mediating the link between obesity and type 2 diabetes, a disease that typically affects people in later life. Sarcopenia (age-related loss of muscle mass and quality) is a risk factor for a number of frailty-related conditions that occur in the elderly. In addition, a syndrome of 'sarcopenic obesity' (SO) is now increasingly recognised, which is common in older people and is applied to individuals that simultaneously show obesity, IR and sarcopenia.

Urocortin 3 activates AMPK and AKT pathways and enhances glucose disposal in rat skeletal muscle.

Insulin resistance (IR) in skeletal muscle is an important component of both type 2 diabetes and the syndrome of sarcopaenic obesity, for which there are no effective therapies. Urocortins (UCNs) are not only well established as neuropeptides but also have their roles in metabolism in peripheral tissues. We have shown recently that global overexpression of UCN3 resulted in muscular hypertrophy and resistance to the adverse metabolic effects of a high-fat diet.

Increased anxiety in corticotropin-releasing factor type 2 receptor-null mice requires recent acute stress exposure and is associated with dysregulated serotonergic activity in limbic brain areas.

Background: Corticotropin-releasing factor type 2 receptors (CRFR2) are suggested to facilitate successful recovery from stress to maintain mental health. They are abundant in the midbrain raphe nuclei, where they regulate serotonergic neuronal activity and have been demonstrated to mediate behavioural consequences of stress. Here, we describe behavioural and serotonergic responses consistent with maladaptive recovery from stressful challenge in CRFR2-null mice.

Chronic activation of corticotropin-releasing factor type 2 receptors reveals a key role for 5-HT1A receptor responsiveness in mediating behavioral and serotonergic responses to stressful challenge.

Background: The corticotropin-releasing factor type 2 receptor (CRFR2) is suggested to play an important role in aiding recovery from acute stress, but any chronic effects of CRFR2 activation are unknown. CRFR2 in the midbrain raphé nuclei modulate serotonergic activity of this key source of serotonin (5-HT) forebrain innervation.

Methods: Transgenic mice overexpressing the highly specific CRFR2 ligand urocortin 3 (UCN3OE) were analyzed for stress-related behaviors and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses.

Expression of urocortin peptides in canine myocardium and plasma.

Urocortin (Ucn) peptides are the endogenous ligands for the corticotropin-releasing factor type 2 receptor (CRFR2). They have potentially important roles in cardiovascular physiology in health and disease, and show promise as therapeutics for congestive heart failure. Analysis of canine heart tissue showed mRNA expression of Ucn 1, Ucn 3 and CRFR2 in all heart chambers.

Urocortin 3 modulates the neuroendocrine stress response and is regulated in rat amygdala and hypothalamus by stress and glucocorticoids.

The endogenous corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) type 2 receptor (CRFR2)-selective ligand urocortin 3 is expressed in discrete subcortical brain regions with fibers distributed mainly to hypothalamic and limbic structures. Close anatomical association between major urocortin 3 terminal fields and CRFR2 in hypothalamus, lateral septum, and medial amygdala (MEA) suggest it is well placed to modulate behavioral and hormonal responses to stress. Urocortin 3 was administered intracerebroventricularly to male rats under basal conditions or before a restraint stress, and circulating ACTH, corticosterone, glucose, and insulin were measured.

Corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1-deficient mice do not develop postoperative gastric ileus.

Background & Aims: Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) signaling pathways play a key role in the stress response through the activation of CRF(1) and CRF(2) receptors. We investigated the CRF receptor subtypes involved in gastric postoperative ileus.

Methods: Adult male mice (C57BL/6, CRF(1)-deficient, and wild-type), fasted for 16-18 hours, were anesthetized for 10 minutes and had a midline celiotomy and cecal exteriorization and palpation for 30 or 60 seconds or no surgery (sham).

Urocortin III is expressed in pancreatic beta-cells and stimulates insulin and glucagon secretion.

Urocortin (Ucn) III, or stresscopin, is a high affinity ligand for the type 2 corticotropin-releasing factor (CRFR2) receptor recently identified in rodents and human. Ucn III was initially identified as a neuropeptide expressed in discrete areas in the brain. In the present study, we demonstrate that Ucn III is expressed in pancreatic beta-cells and in a mouse beta-cell line, MIN6.