Corticotropin releasing factor: immunocytochemical localization in rat brain.

Using antiserum generated against the synthetic CRF1-41 we have immunocytochemically localized perikarya and processes in rat brain. Areas observed to have particularly dense accumulation of CRF-ir cells were in the extra-hypothalamic areas of nucleus accumbens septi, nucleus of the stria terminalis, the medial preoptic region, and the central amygdaloid nucleus. Within the hypothalamus cell bodies were scattered throughout the anterior hypothalamic region and densely packed in the paraventricular nucleus. Fibers appear most dense in the lateral septal region and throughout the external layer of the median eminence.