The European Workshops on Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology of the Testis have become by now a well-established tradition. Thanks to their special format, the quality of the main lectures and miniposters, and the vivid discussions, they enjoy the ever-increasing interest and active participation of all European scientists working in the field. Moreover, since the very beginning they have attracted investigators from all over the world. The most recent "Testis Workshop" was held in De Panne, Belgium, from 27-3\ March, 1994. As always, the frame­ work of the workshop was provided by a series of lectures delivered by a panel of internationally recognized authorities. These lectures are ga­ thered in the present volume of the Ernst Schering Foundation Work­ shop series. Together with the Miniposter book they constitute an excel­ lent written account of the Proceedings of the 8th European Testis Workshop. The testis undoubtedly represents one of the most complex and in­ triguing tissues in the body. Both its endocrine function, the secretion of male sex hormones, and its exocrine role, the production of mature spermatozoa, continue to raise startling questions to clinicians, physi­ ologists, endocrinologists, and scientists involved in fundamental re­ search. Few organs maintain and support a differentiation process as complicated as spermatogenesis; few tissues continually display both mitotic and meiotic cell cyles in such a stringently controlled fashion or a comparable need for coordinated endocrine and local control.

Inhalt

1 Hormonal Receptors in the Genital Tract.- 2 Transplantation of Male and Female Germ and Somatic Cells.- 3 Proliferation and Differentiation of Testicular Interstitial Cells: Aspects of Leydig Cell Development in the (Pre)Pubertal and Adult Testis.- 4 Regulation of the Acute Production of Steroids in Steroidogenic Cells.- 5 Extracellular Matrix Elements, Cell Adhesion Molecules, and Signal Transduction in the Control of Sertoli Cell Function.- 6 Interactions Between Androgens, Sertoli Cells and Germ Cells in the Control of Spermatogenesis.- 7 Cell Cycle Checkpoints in Male and Female Germ Cells.- 8 Signal Transduction in Mammalian Spermatozoa.- 9 Diversity and Regulation of cAMP-Dependent Protein Kinases.- 10 The Nuclear Respone to cAMP During Spermatogenesis: The Key Role of Transcription Factor CREM.- 11 Transgenic Animals and the Study of Gonadal Function.- 12 Clinical Relevance and Irrelevance of Molecular and Cellular Research on the Testis.