The development of modern medicine has contributed to clarifying the etiology and treatment of various diseases as well as to improving public health and welfare, and basic biological research has discovered a great deal about the underlying mechanisms at work. However, there are still many diseases which remain mysterious and incurable, and biological processes which are still imperfectly understood. In order to promote research in medicine and biology, non-governmental funding, as well as government support, is very important. The Japan Medical Research Foundation has been in existence since October 1973 in order to meet such needs with aid from non-governmental financial sources. One of the Foundation's main activities is to hold annual symposia and seminars on various diseases and research problems. To elucidate the mechanisms of the development of the nervous system in mammals is one of the most challenging problems for researchers in the field of developmental biology. Are there any formulae in the develop ment of this complicated system? What factors are involved genetically and environmentally? Only a few questions have been answered so far.

I. Early Development of Mammals

Patterns of Cell Proliferation in the Preimplantation Mammalian Embryo
The Analysis of Cell Lineages in the Postimplantation Mammalian Embryo
Early Stages of Fertilization in vitro of Rabbit, Pig, Cattle and Human Eggs
Early Development of Mouse Embryos Fertilized in vitro
In vitro Culture of Human Follicular Oocytes
II. Genetics of Mammalian Embryos
Molecular Insight to the Mechanisms of Cell Adhesion in Relation with Early Mammalian Morphogenesis
Genetic Influences on Teratocarcinogenesis in Mice
Phenotypical Expression in Nude ? Normal Chimeric Mice
Search for Transplantation Method Facilitating Establishment of Normal Diploid Teratocarcinomas from "Resistant" C57BL Mice
The Use of Chimeric Rats in the Analysis of the Hooded Pigmentation Pattern
Quail-Chick Chimeras, a Tool to Study the Development of the Peripheral Nervous System
III. Mammalian Mutants
Examples of Neuromuscular Mutations in the Mouse: Opportunities for an Understanding of Pathological Processes
A Study of Myelin Deficiency in the Central Nervous System of Mice with Genetic Muscular Dystrophy
Neurochemical Abnormalities of Snell Dwarf Mutant Mice
Characteristics of a New Allele of Tottering Locus, Rolling (tgrol)
Analysis of CNS Development with Mutant Mice and Chimeras
Immunohistochemical and Biochemical Analyses of Development of Nervous System of Mutant Mice (Reeler and Shiverer)
Mutations Affecting Myelination: Dynamics of CNS Myelin Markers in Normal and Dysmyelinating Mutant Mice
Studies on Genetic Control of Myelinogenesis in Tissue Culture from Rat and Mouse Cerebella
General Comments.