This volume contains the Proceedings of the Meeting "Neuronal plasticity and gangliosides" which was held at Mantova, Italy, on May 29-31, 1985, as a satellite to the Tenth Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry, (Riva del Garda, Italy, May 19-24,1985). The Symposium took place in the "Teatro Bibiena," one of the oldest and most beautiful theatres in Italy, known for having been the place for some of the very first performances of W .A. Mozart. The number of registered participants in the Meeting was about 180 including 40 accor: Qpanying persons. The persons invited as Speakers or Chairmen of Colloquia and Workshops were 48. Eighteen countries were represented with the largest contingent coming from Italy, followed by Federal Republic of Germany, The United States, France and Great Britain. The Meeting was based on Colloquia, Workshops, Round Tables and Poster Sessions, with a total of 42 Lectures and 32 Poster presentations.

This book consists of a series of reviews on selected topics within the rapidly and vastly expanding field of membrane biology. Its aim is to highlight the most significant and important advances that have been made in recent years in understanding the structure, dynamics, and functions of cell membranes. The progress that is being made in research in this field is due to the application of integrated experimental ap- proaches, utilizing sophisticated and novel techniques in molecular biology, cell biology, biophysics and biochemistry. Due to the advances made, many problems have been or are being solved at the molecular level. With the help of an Editorial Advisory Board consisting of Jean-Pierre Changeux (Paris), Paolo Comoglio (Torino), Rainer Jaenicke (Regens- burg), Sten Orrenius (Stockholm), Lorenzo Pinna (Padova), Konrad Sandhoff (Bonn), and Gottfried Schatz (Basel), we have selected a number of topics in areas in which progress has been particularly rapid, and have invited internationally acknowledged experts in the field to review these topics. The areas covered in this monograph are: 1) Signal transduction; 2) Membrane traffic: Proteins and lipids; 3) Bioenergetics: Energy transfer and membrane transport; 4) Cellular ion homeostasis; 5) Growth factors and adhesion molecules; 6) Structural analysis of mem- brane proteins; and 7) Membranes and disease.