Here we investigated whether: (a) IL-18 shares with IL-1beta the ability to stimulate CRH gene expression and peptide release from rat hypothalamic explants in short-term (1 and 3 h) in vitro incubations; (b) IL-18 modulates basal and IL-1beta stimulated prostaglandins production in hypothalamic explants as well as in primary cultures of rat cortical microglia and astrocytes in 24-h experiments.