Even though functional CRH receptors have been identified in several brain regions by ligand binding, the identity of brain areas expressing the CRH receptor gene has not been described. The recent cloning of the rat CRH receptor gene has permitted us to conduct an in situ hybridization histochemistry study to localize CRH receptor mRNA in brain, using an antisense 35S-labeled riboprobe and autoradiography. In virus- and pathogen-free, unstressed, adult male Sprague-Dawley rats we observed CRH receptor gene expression in several brain regions, most of which had been previously shown to bind radiolabeled CRH. Those regions include the pituitary, olfactory bulb, hippocampal formation, cerebral and cerebellar cortexes, hypothalamus, median eminence, amygdala, olfactory tubercle, choroid plexus, thalamus, and inferior colliculus. Further studies are needed to determine the cell types expressing both CRH receptor mRNA and the CRH receptor peptide in nervous system as well as in peripheral tissues.