Identification of projections from the central nucleus of the amygdala to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus which are immunoreactive for corticotrophin‐releasing hormone in the rat

Abstract

Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) immunoreactivity was detected in neurons of the central nucleus of the amygdala that were retrogradely labelled by injection of a fluorescent tracer (True Blue) into the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN). The double-labelled neurons were located mainly in the medial subdivision of the central nucleus and appeared to comprise less than one-fifth of the descending pathway. These results suggest that CRH may act as a neurotransmitter in the amygdalo-hypothalamic pathway.