“…Likewise, CRF was found to cause the release of cytokines such as IL-1, IL-2, and IL-6 from immune cells in vitro (Leu & Singh, 1992;Paez Pereda et al, 1995;Singh & Leu, 1990), to induce synthesis of acute phase proteins from liver hepatocytes (Hagan, Poole, & Bristow, 1993), and to stimulate the release of IL-1 from hypothalamic explants (Tringali et al, 1997). These ®ndings have culminated in the suggestion that CRF overproduction is involved in in¯ammatory disease states such as experimental uveitis (Mastorakos et al, 1995) and rheumatoid arthritis (Nishioka et al, 1996;Webster, Torpy, Elenkov, & Chrousos, 1998), which may be precipitated or exacerbated by exposure to stressors (e.g., Zautra et al, 1997). Because peripheral IL-1 can activate vagal afferents, which in turn can result in increased IL-1 in the brain (Hosoi, Okuma, & Nomura, 2000;Laye et al, 1995), there exists at least one empirically testable pathway by which peripheral CRF might, by means of stimulating peripheral cytokine activity, induce central cytokine activity such as is known to underlie sickness behaviors.…”