In addition to regulating the neuroendocrine stress response, corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) has been implicated in both normal and pathological behavioral and cognitive responses to stress. CRH-expressing cells and their target neurons possessing CRH receptors (CRF 1 and CRF 2 ) are distributed throughout the limbic system, but little is known about the regulation of limbic CRH receptor function and expression, including regulation by the peptide itself. Because CRH is released from limbic neuronal terminals during stress, this regulation might play a crucial role in the mechanisms by which stress contributes to human neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. Therefore, these studies tested the hypothesis that CRH binding to CRF 1 influenced the levels and mRNA expression of this receptor in stress-associated limbic regions of immature rat. Binding capacities and mRNA levels of both CRF 1 and CRF 2 were determined at several time points after central CRH administration. CRH downregulated CRF 1 binding in frontal cortex significantly by 4 h. This transient reduction (no longer evident at 8 h) was associated with rapid increase of CRF 1 mRNA expression, persisting for >8 h. Enhanced CRF 1 expression-with a different time course-occurred also in hippocampal CA3, but not in CA1 or amygdala, CRF 2 binding and mRNA levels were not altered by CRH administration. To address the mechanisms by which CRH regulated CRF 1 , the specific contributions of ligand-receptor interactions and of the CRH-induced neuronal stimulation were examined. Neuronal excitation without occupation of CRF 1 induced by kainic acid, resulted in no change of CRF 1 binding capacity, and in modest induction of CRF 1 mRNA expression. Furthermore, blocking the neuroexcitant effects of CRH (using pentobarbital) abolished the alterations in CRF 1 binding and expression. These results indicate that CRF 1 regulation involves both occupancy of this receptor by its ligand, as well as "downstream" cellular activation and suggest that stress-induced perturbation of CRH-CRF 1 signaling may contribute to abnormal neuronal communication after some stressful situations.