A symposium on neuroendocrinology and two state-of-the-art lectures will be included in the program of the 19th annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, July 14-17, 1986. The symposium will focus on hypothalamic neurotransmitters and their role in the control of gonadotropins and prolactin release and sexual behavior. Hypothalamic control of reproductive function is a popular area of research among SSR members and there are many significant recent advances in this field, both in methodology and in conceptual grasp of the role of catecholaminergic neurons in the hypothalamus. The symposium will consist of lectures on hormones, neurotransmitters and sexual behavior, on dopaminergic control of pituitary function, and on the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in vivo. A lecture on the present state-of-the-art on experimental mammalian embryology, with particular emphasis on nuclear transfer, will be presented. Biology and experimental manipulation of early embryos are rapidly advancing areas of research, with prospect for numerous applications in animal breeding and medicine and are of immediate interest to a large segment of SSR membership. The second state-of-the-art lecture will be on the molecular mechanisms of gonadotropin-releasing hormone action. This area of research was chosen as a topic for invited lecture by a large proportion of SSR members responding to a recent questionnaire and the lecture will deal with some important new concepts in hormone action and in regulation of gonadotropin release.
