Recent molecular and cellular studies of the mechanisms that regulate endocrine glandular secretion have unmasked an array of interesting biochemical and molecular features of hormone release. Such mechanisms involve genomic control, subcellularly compartmentalized hormone synthesis, posttranslational (glyco)protein modification, and appropriate intragranular packaging for exocytosis. Moreover, studies in cell biology have identified discrete messenger pathways activating secretion in individual cells, cell ensembles, and intact endocrine glands. Despite these advances in our understanding of endocrine secretory mechanics. far less information is available regarding the regulated timestructure of hormone release. The temporal arrhitecture of endocrine glandular signaling is believed to convey important biochemical information to the remote target tissue, and also represents a signature of the time-specified activation of responsive endocrine cells. Consequently, to