TY - JOUR
T1 - Urocortins as cardiovascular peptides
AU - Takahashi, Kazuhiro
AU - Totsune, Kazuhito
AU - Murakami, Osamu
AU - Shibahara, Shigeki
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by Grants-in-aid for Scientific Research (B) (No. 13470030) and (C) (No 13671094) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science; by a Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (A) (No. 13035005) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan; by a Research Grant from the HIROMI Medical Research Foundation (2001); by a Research Grant from the Intelligent Cosmos (2002 & 2003) and by the 21st Century COE program, Medical Science Center for Innovative Therapeutic Development towards the Conquest of Signal Transduction Diseases.
PY - 2004/10
Y1 - 2004/10
N2 - Urocortins (Ucn) 1, 2 and 3, human homologues of fish urotensin I, form the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family, together with CRF, urotensin I and sauvagine. Ucn 3 is a novel member of this family and is a specific ligand for CRF type 2 receptor. CRF type 2 receptor is thought to mediate the stress-coping responses, such as anxiolysis, anorexia, vasodilatation, a positive inotropic action on myocardium and dearousal. Endogenous ligands for the CRF type 2 receptor expressed in the cardiovascular tissues, such as the myocardium, have long been unknown. We have shown expression of Ucn 3 as well as Ucn 1 in the human heart. Ucn 3 is also expressed in the kidney, particularly distal tubules. Studies in various rat tissues showed that high concentrations of immunoreactive Ucn 3 were found in the pituitary gland, adrenal gland, gastrointestinal tract, ovary and spleen in addition to the brain, heart and kidney. These observations suggest that Ucn 3 is expressed in various tissues including heart and kidney, and may regulate the circulation in certain aspects of stress and diseases, such as inflammation. Ucn 1 and 3 appear to have important pathophysiological roles in some cardiovascular diseases.
AB - Urocortins (Ucn) 1, 2 and 3, human homologues of fish urotensin I, form the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family, together with CRF, urotensin I and sauvagine. Ucn 3 is a novel member of this family and is a specific ligand for CRF type 2 receptor. CRF type 2 receptor is thought to mediate the stress-coping responses, such as anxiolysis, anorexia, vasodilatation, a positive inotropic action on myocardium and dearousal. Endogenous ligands for the CRF type 2 receptor expressed in the cardiovascular tissues, such as the myocardium, have long been unknown. We have shown expression of Ucn 3 as well as Ucn 1 in the human heart. Ucn 3 is also expressed in the kidney, particularly distal tubules. Studies in various rat tissues showed that high concentrations of immunoreactive Ucn 3 were found in the pituitary gland, adrenal gland, gastrointestinal tract, ovary and spleen in addition to the brain, heart and kidney. These observations suggest that Ucn 3 is expressed in various tissues including heart and kidney, and may regulate the circulation in certain aspects of stress and diseases, such as inflammation. Ucn 1 and 3 appear to have important pathophysiological roles in some cardiovascular diseases.
KW - Corticotropin-releasing factor
KW - Heart
KW - Stress
KW - Stresscopin
KW - Urocortin
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U2 - 10.1016/j.peptides.2004.04.018
DO - 10.1016/j.peptides.2004.04.018
M3 - Review article
C2 - 15476939
AN - SCOPUS:5144220951
SN - 0196-9781
VL - 25
SP - 1723
EP - 1731
JO - Peptides
JF - Peptides
IS - 10 SPEC. ISS.
ER -
