Distribution of corticotropin-releasing factor-immunoreactive neurons in the central nervous system of the domestic chicken and Japanese quail.

In birds, as in mammals, corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) is present in a number of extrahypothalamic brain regions, indicating that CRF may play a role in physiological and behavioral responses other than the control of adrenocorticotropin hormone release by the pituitary. To provide a foundation for investigation of the roles of CRF in the control of avian behavior, the distribution of CRF immunoreactivity was determined throughout the central nervous system of the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus) and Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). The distribution of CRF-immunoreactive (-ir) perikarya and fibers in the chicken and quail brain was found to be more extensive than previously reported, notably in the telencephalon. Numerous CRF-ir perikarya and fibers were present in the hyperstriatum, hippocampus, neostriatum, lobus parolfactorius, and archistriatum, as well as in the nucleus taeniae, nucleus accumbens, and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, which exhibited the strongest immunolabeling in the telencephalon. The presence of dense populations of CRF-ir perikarya in the medial lobus parolfactorius, nucleus of the stria terminalis, and paleostriatum ventrale, apparently giving rise to CRF-ir projections to the mesencephalic reticular formation, the parabrachial/pericerulear region, and the dorsal vagal complex, suggests that these telencephalic areas may constitute part of the avian "central extended amygdala." These results have important implications for understanding the role of extrahypothalamic CRF systems in emotional responses in birds.