Hypothalamic peptide hormones and pituitary regulation

The workshop was held in Wilson Hall on the campus of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, during the days of November 1- 2, 1976, and is the most recent of three symposia on neuroendocrinology that have been sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. The first one was held on December 6 - 8, 1961, in the New Everglades Hotel at Miami, Florida. During the first meeting, much emphasis was given to the anatomical and physiological basis for the fledgling science of neuroendocrinology. The proceedings of that symposium were published under the title of Advances in Neuroendocrinology, A. V. Nalbandov (ed.), University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1963. The second workshop was held on January 8 -11, 1969, in the Arizona Inn at Tucson, Arizona, and was unique in several respects.

It was evident to the participants that definitive identification and the determination of the chemical structure of at least one hypothalamic releasing factor was at hand (see Workshop Conference on Bioassay and Chemistry of the Hypophysiotropic Hormones of the Hypothalamus: A Critical Evaluation, J. Meites, ed. The Williams and Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 1970). Much of what was presented at the second workshop was dedicated to methods of bioassay of the various releasing factors. With the advent of immunoassays, several of these bioassays, especially those for releasing factors which have been subsequently characterized chemically and synthesized, have been largely superseded by more precise procedures of quantification. It is worth noting that by the time of the second workshop, in contradistinction to the first one, the phrase, hypothalamic releasing factor, was well entrenched in the scientific lexicon.

During the present and third workshop, the phrase hypothalamic releasing hormone and hypothalamic releasing factor were used synonomously. However, the demonstration of hypothalamic releasing hormones or factors in extrahypothalamic regions of the brain as well as in some non-neural tissues may denote a deficiency in the present nomenclature of this class of substances. This deficiency not withstanding, it was evident from the presentations of the participants that the progress in neuroendocrinology in the interval between the second and third workshops had been substantial if not extraordinary. Moreover, the accomplishments of the research endeavors of the experimental laboratories are now finding use in clinical settings. And, it is reassuring to see that what is learned in one species is so generally applicable to another, even man. Such findings increase confidence in our generalizations.

Yet, those who prefer to dwell on the promises of the future rather than the bones of the past, will note that much remains to be done, as the participants stressed repeatedly.