There is a prov1s10n in the charter of each Study Section of the
Division of Research Grants at the National Institutes of Health that
stipulates that "workshops" are to be held periodically to aid Study
Section members in their appraisals of recent developments in their
fields and to identify future challenges worthy of investigation. The
Reproductive Endocrinology Study Section was established on December 13,
1985 to review research grants and research training activities relating
to reproductive endocrinology, including aspects of management of
reproductive endocrine disorders and hormonal imbalances as related to
infertility and during pregnancy and puberty, breast cancer and prostate
cancer. It held its first workshop, entitled, "Autocrine and Paracrine
Mechanisms in Reproductive Endocrinology," in October, 1988 in
Shrewsbury, MA at The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology. The
proceedings of this workshop, which are detailed herein, reflect the
fact that autocrine and paracrine interactions are rapidly being
accepted as an exciting area of research by scientists investigating the
physiological and biochemical mechanisms of hormone action in the male
and female reproductive systems. The material covered is novel and
wide-ranging, extending from theoretical considerations of mechanisms of
growth factor action and the role of cell cycle stage in determining
hormone action to investigations of autocrine and paracrine interactions
during development to discussions of the potential clinical
ramifications of the basic research findings. Such an extensive
inventory is necessary for two reasons.
