U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Neuroplasticity, Development and Steroid Hormone Action

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9909858HandaThis award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on Neuroplasticity, Development and Steroid Hormone Action, to be held in Hawaii from September 29 to October 3, 2000. The co-organizers are Professors Robert Handa at Colorado State University, Boulder and Professor Shinji Hayashi at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Neuroscience in Japan. The focus of this seminar will be in elucidating the effects of steroid hormones on neuroplastic changes in the brain throughout the lifespan of the animal. The five major topics to be discussed include: 1) development and differentiation of the hypothalamus and LHRH neuronal systems; 2) steroid dependent brain differentiation; 3) central regulation of hormone secretion; 4) steroid hormones and neuroplasticity in the mature brain; and 5) steroid mediated mechanisms of cell growth and survival.Steroid hormones are key modulators of the intercellular communications network used by the central nervous system. These simple hormones have the capacity to influence virtually all neural functions from the maintenance and organization of neurons and their connections during development to the activity and function of neurons in adulthood, to the death of neurons during aging and neuropathology. Steroid sensitive neural circuits are implicated in reproductive function, stress responses, emotion, aggression, cognition, activity, feeding and others. The Seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve younger researchers as both participants and observers. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in this field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. It is anticipated that dissemination of proceedings of the meeting will be published in the journal "Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology. The information will also be available on the website http://lamar.colostate.edu/~bhanda/us-japan.htm.