Readers of this book can update their knowledge in the fast-moving field of endocrinology and neurobiology. Topics concerning growth and development are extensively reviewed from both basic science and clinical viewpoints. Aspects related to growth development and to the control of cellular differentiation and multiplication are discussed. Further new information is provided on: synthetic recombinant human growth hormone (rHGH); potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications of the neuropeptide, growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH); the physiology and physiopathology of the neural control of growth hormone secretion; the diagnosis and therapy of growth hormone deficiency or excess states; and the biology, function and possible utilization of growth factors. These important new findings are relevant to progress in pediatrics, pediatric and clinical endocrinology, neuroendocrinology and physiology.

The various congresses on growth hormone (GH) which have been held in Milan since 1967, the Milan Congresses, have witnessed over 25 years the tremendous expansion of a research field that was based initially upon the scarce knowledge of the biological properties of a protein. GH, whose chemical structure had just been identified and a radioimmunoassay developed for its measurement in blood, became in the following years a major area of biological research. The boundaries have since become blurred, as the research area has extended to the physiology and pathology of growth, puberty and reproduction, and the control of metabolism during the whole lifespan. Since the last GH Congress held in 1987, GH studies using the molecular biological approach have resulted in the puri fication, cloning and expression of the human GH (hGH) recep tor and binding protein, in new and exciting information on the insulin-like growth factors (IGF) and their paracrine and autocrine roles, and in the awareness that a panoply of binding proteins are present in the extracellular fluids and can, possibly, modulate IGF-receptor interactions and, thus, IGF actions. Finally, the availability of large amounts of biosynthetic hGH, besides allow ing more extensive clinical use in states of GH deficiency and extrasomatotrophic pathologies, has permitted disclosure of im portant metabolic effects of hGH during adulthood and, perhaps, aging and in many protein catabolic states."

Neuroendocrine Perspectives, Volume 7, is part of an international book series designed to keep clinicians and researchers appraised of important trends and new data in basic and clinical neuroendocrinology. It focuses on four very rapidly evolving major topics: - the role of dopaminergic regulation of the intermediate pituitary lobe in elucidating intracellular signal transaction pathways and other regulatory mechanisms involved in transsynaptic regulation of peptide biosynthesis, post-translational processing, and hormone secretion; - the physiological and clinical implications of corticotropin releasing factor for such areas as diagnosing Cushing's syndrome, defining the hypothalamic and pituitary origins of secondary adrenal insufficiency, and distinguishing Cushing's syndrome from psychiatric states associated with hypercortisolism; - the large number of neurotrophic factors that affect CNS neurons and of neurite promoting factors that modulate neuronal performance, with emphasis on their mechanisms of action and their possible therapeutic applications to peripheral neuropathies and central diseases; - and the many factors that regulate changes in female reproductive cycles during middle age, with careful distinction between neuroendocrine and ovarian components and special attention to the possible cause-and-effect relationship within the cascade of events resulting in acyclicity and infertility.

The flow of information in neuroendocrinology and related disciplines is vigorous, favored by the availability of sensitive and specific biochemical and histochemical techniques that advance our knowledge of CNS neurotransmitter and neuropeptide systems. Volume 8 of Neuroendocrine Perspectives illuminates new findings inthis areawhich add complexity to the traditional view ofthe hypothalamo- pituitary control, and to established concepts ofthe modulation ofbrain function by target hormones. In the first chapter, Ben-Jonathan exhaustively reviews evidence derived from her own work that demonstrates the importance of the posterior lobe as a regulator of prolactin secretion via two opposing influences, i. e. , dopamine released by the tuberohypophyseal dopaminergic system into the short portal vessels and a prolactin-releasing factor which is produced locally, though the identity of its innervating neurons is still unclear. Despite the wealth of information on prolactin and its cell of origin, little is known about the manner in which the hormone exerts its effects on target cells. Frawley and coworkers thoroughlyexamine the direct actions ofprolactin on a broad spectrum ofmammalian tissues, dealing extensivelywith prolactin receptors and the putative second messengers. They also review new evidence, based on their original findings, for an indirect action ofprolactin exerted through the livervia synlactin and liver lactogenic factor, two extracellular modulators ofthe biological functions ofthe hormone. The relationships among the CNS, neuroendocrine and immune systems are bidirectional and constitute an integrated loop.

This issue of Neuroendocrine Perspectives, Volume 9, begins with a fascinating aspect of neurobiology: the steroid control of vertebrate behavior, in this case aggressive behavior. In the first chapter, Schlinger and Callard, after an extensive historical perspective of the behavioral effects of steroid hormones, review results of their own and others' laboratories on the hormonal basis of individual and sex-related differences in the intensity ofaggressive displays in birds. These studies provide evidence that brain aromatase exerts considerable control over both sex-dependent and individual differences in aggressive behavior by controllingestrogenreceptoroccupancyinsteroid-sensitivebrainregions. A greatdeal ofattention has been devoted to psychological, socio economic and cultural factors as potential causes of drug abuse and dependence, whereas the information on the neurobiologic effects of drugs of abuse is rather scanty. Wand and Froehlich address this topic in an exhaustive chapter on the effects of ethanol on the release, synthesis and posttranslational processing of hypothalamo-hypophyseal hormones. In addition, in keeping with neurophysiological and epidemiological evidence of a genetic susceptibility to alcohol addiction, they present data to indicate how the neuroendocrine system may function as a marker for genetic susceptibility to ethanol addition."

In the last few years, considerable attention has been paid to the presence of insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and their binding proteins (IGF-BPs) in the brain and peripheral neuronal tissue. IGFs are synthesized within the CNS, are bound to specific IGF-BPs and act on specific receptors. They represent a new class of growth factors and messengers in the brain and the periphery. Written by a group of outstanding experts in the field, the book provides an invaluable forum where important aspects of the production, regulation, biological actions, pathophysiological involvement, therapeutic applications for IGFs in many neurologic and neuromuscular disorders are addressed and critically evaluated.