Funds are provided to defray travel costs of young scientists and invited participants to attend the Conference on Steroid Action on Excitable Cells which is to be held as a Satellite Symposium at the 1993 Society for Neuroscience on November 6, 1993 in Washington, DC. Since the 1960's, it has been readily accepted that the mechanism of steroid hormone action is by a genomic route. However, in some circumstances, hormones can have effects within seconds to minutes. Until recently, these data were ignored because it did not fit the dogma. Now it has become clear that steroid action in the brain is more complex than that previously thought. Indeed, steroid action is mediated by both genomic and non-genomic routes. The conference will address the mechanisms through which steroid hormones and thyroid hormones act on excitable cells. The presentations will highlight the exciting recent work on (1) the modulatory action of steroid on amino acid receptors in the hippocampus; (2) the use of simple model systems as means to examine the actions of hormones on identified, voltage-clamped, ion currents; (3) novel hormone receptors; and (4) the molecular and biochemical actions of steroids. These are fundamentally important questions in an field that is rapidly advancing and changing. This Satellite Symposium offers a forum for sharing of ideas on this subject which may ultimately lead to breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms of steroid hormone action.
