Low CRF concentrations can influence neuronal properties in the CNS (see (Aldenhoff et al. 1983; Siggins et al. 1985). CRF decreases the slow after hyperpolarizing potential in hippocampus (Aldenhoff et al. 1983) and CeA (Rainnie et al. 1992), and enhances R-type voltage-gated calcium channels in rat CeA neurons (Yu and Shinnick-Gallagher 1998). These and other data (Liu et al. 2004; Nie et al. 2004, 2009; Roberto et al. 2010; Ungless et al. 2003) also suggest that CRF plays an important role in regulating synaptic transmission in CNS. For example, in VTA dopamine neurons, CRF potentiates NMDA-mediated synaptic transmission via CRF2 activation (Ungless et al. 2003), and we recently found that CRF augments GABAergic inhibitory transmission in mouse CeA neurons via CRF1 activation (Fig. 1).
