Travel support is provided for distinguished American scientists to attend an international symposium on "Circulating Regulatory Factors and Neuroendocrine Function" in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. The Slovak Academy of Sciences in this Warsaw Pact nation will provide transportation from Vienna to Czechoslovakia and expenses for the American scientists while attending this meeting. The meeting will focus on the mechanism(s) by which circulating factors derived from the immune system, heart, kidney, adrenals, thyroid gland, gonads and pituitary gland influence the brain mechanisms which regulate neuroendocrine and other homeostatic functions. This meeting is of timely importance because it is now clear that the lifespan and the function of brain neurons are modulated by agents in the blood. While the blood-brain barrier is believed to protect the brain from many direct influences, there is clear evidence that many circulatory agents exert control over the development and maturation of neurons. The meeting will address this crucial problem in a format which provides for integration of data from many different disciplines. The proceedings of this important meeting will published.
