This book is devoted to a broader understanding of liposomes as a versatile tool used in many domains, including basic research and applied technology, focusing on less common applications and recent developments. Over the past few years, new types of liposomes made of nonphospholipid molecules have opened new perspectives in applications. These lipid vesicles, already used in cosmetology, are being manufactured for industrial and agricultural uses. However, "Stealth" liposomes, pH-sensitive liposomes, and cationic liposomes have enlarged and improved the application field of liposomes in clinical research. The book covers these different uses of liposomes with particular attention to new formulations and new applications.

This book is devoted to a broader understanding of liposomes as a versatile tool used in many domains, including basic research and applied technology, focusing on less common applications and recent developments. Over the past few years, new types of liposomes made of nonphospholipid molecules have opened new perspectives in applications. These lipid vesicles, already used in cosmetology, are being manufactured for industrial and agricultural uses. However, "Stealth" liposomes, pH-sensitive liposomes, and cationic liposomes have enlarged and improved the application field of liposomes in clinical research. The book covers these different uses of liposomes with particular attention to new formulations and new applications.

This volume contains the lectures presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "Trafficking of Intracellular Membranes: From Molecular Sorting to Membrane Fusion", held in Espinho, Portugal, from June 19 to June 30,1994. The objective of this Institute was to survey recent developments and to discuss future directions in the rapidly advancing field of membrane cell biology, with particular emphasis on the dynamical properties and intracellular flow of membranes. A wide range of interrelated topics around the central theme of intracellular trafficking of membranes was covered, including lipid flow, membrane fusion, dynamics of membrane components, protein folding and assembly, vesicular transport in membrane biogenesis, exocytosis and endocytosis. A large variety of experimental techniques and systems, including the application of viruses and model systems, to study these processes was also considered. Membrane cell biology is a broad discipline which encompasses many scientific areas including cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, virology, immunonology and genetics. Indeed, recent advances in the cell biology of membranes could not have been made without this multidisciplinary approach. Significant progress achieved during the last few years in understanding how newly synthesized lipids and proteins find their way to the cell organelles, how molecular sorting and the continuous flow of membranes allow each cellular membrane to maintain its own distinct molecular composition, and, thereby, the individuality of the various intracellular compartments, was discussed in considerable detail in this Institute.

Challenging and provocative overviews are presented in Volume 40 of Current Topics in Membranes. Topics on cell lipids vary from basic themes such as biosynthesis and membrane distribution to the role of lipids in intracellular signaling and membrane flow. This single volume also highlights the roles of lipids in eukaryotic cells and discusses organization of lipids in microdomains.

Viral Fusion Mechanisms presents the first comprehensive review on this exciting topic. The book focuses on molecular mechanisms rather than phenomonology and examines a wide range of viruses, including influenza, HIV, Sendai, SFV, Vaccinia, VSV, and RSV. Recent theoretical work on dissecting protein-mediated membrane fusion is discussed, and the most promising new technologies for elucidating mechanisms are highlighted.
Viral Fusion Mechanisms is an essential reference for biophysicists, cell biologists, colloid chemists, immunologists, microbiologists, molecular biologists, and virologists.