Journal of Endocrinology

Molecular determinants of CRH signaling in the mouse hypothalamus. (A) Neuronal subclusters expressing CRH receptors (Crhr1 and Crhr2) and CRH-binding protein (Crhbp). Note that some cells in clusters #14 (GABA) and #44 (glutamate) can express at least one receptor and binding protein for CRH signaling. Red and green colors identify respective GABAergic and glutamatergic clusters, which express Crh mRNA at levels exceeding 2× the s.e.m. Note that significant levels of gene expression were found only for Crhr2 and Crhbp but not for Crhr1 within the hypothalamus (*q < 0.05, Wilcoxon rank-sum test corrected for multiple testing). (B) Secretagogin expression among hypothalamic neurons. Cluster #44 (glutamate) coexpresses both Scgn and Crh genes, and this cluster localizes to the PVN (Romanov et al. 2015). (C) Secretagogin expression in the hypothalamus of laboratory rodents and humans. In mouse, secretagogin co-exists with neither oxytocin nor vasopressin. In contrast, a subset of vasopressin⁺ and oxytocin⁺ neurons can co-express secretagogin in rat and human, respectively. Color code: secretagogin (red), vasopressin (green) and oxytocin (blue). Scale bars = 20 µm. (A and B) adapted, with permission, from Romanov et al. (2016).