Preface.

Sorry, there is no abstract available. Read the first few lines of the text instead!The Tenth Annual Karger Workshop was held in conjunction with the regular meeting of the J.B. Johnston Club in Los Angeles, Calif. (November 7, 1998). The theme of the workshop, ‘Steroid Action on Brain and Behavior’ was intended to provide a general and comparative overview of steroid action on brain and behavior from an evolutionary perspective. To this end, the order of talks was gauged towards a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms that mediate steroid action on brain and behavior. The first three talks considered how steroids organize, activate, and modify the structure and function of neural systems in mammals (Marc Breedlove), birds (Greg Ball; Juli Wade) and reptiles (Juli Wade). The next two talks focused on the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate brain-steroid interactions in vertebrates (Frank Moore and Harold Zakon). The last talk (Janis Weeks) consolidated many of the above ideas by addressing how steroids interact at molecular and cellular levels to reorganize neural circuits and behavior during insect metamorphosis. In the spirit of the J.B. Johnston Club, the workshop generated lively discussions on new and established theories on steroid action on brain and behavior from comparative and evolutionary perspectives. The articles contained within this issue expand on these issues by providing new ideas and fresh insights into how steroids act in the brain to bring about changes in behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]