The International Symposia on Plant Lipids, the 15th of which was held in Okazaki, Japan, in May 12-17, 2002, is held every two years and is the only international meeting in this field. The contributions from the symposium collected in this book represent the most up-to-date research results on plant lipids,including their structure, analysis, biosynthesis, regulation, physiological function, environmental aspects, and biotechnology, obtained world-wide during 2000-2002.

Methods and Procedures for Preparing Resealed Erythrocytes: IHP Entrapment into Human Erythrocytes; A. Mosca, et al. Resealed Erythrocytes as a Tool for Basic Studies: ATP Monitoring in Human Red Blood Cells with Luciferase Introduced Intracellularly; V.M. Vitvitsky, et al. Resealed Erythrocytes as a Cellular Bioreactors: Acetaldehayde Oxidation by Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Loaded Erythrocytes; P. Ninfali, et al. Resealed Erythrocytes as Advanced Drug Delivery Systems: Erythrocytes as Carriers of New Anti-Opioid Prodrugs; S. Noel-Hocquet, et al. Site Specific Targeting of Resealed Erythrocytes: Erythrocytes as Carriers of Ricin A Chain; N. Chestier, et al. Human and Veterinary Studies Using Resealed Erythrocytes: Susceptibility of Carrier Erythrocytes to a Natural Hemolytic System; H.J. Kirch, et al. 36 additional articles. Index.

Until recently the only biomedical use of erythrocytes was in transfusion medicine to restore a normal oxygen delivery. The development of a technology that permits one to open and reseal erythrocytes has dramatically changed this perspective. Currently, a number of teams have shown that engineered erythrocytes can behave as circulating bioreactors for the degradation of toxic metabolites or the inactivation of xenobiotics, as drug delivery systems, as carriers of antigens of vaccinal interest, and in many others biomedical applications. The technology of opening and resealing the erythrocytes has also been used successfully to investigate several basic aspects of erythrocyte metabolism, survival, pathology, etc. Thus, researchers in this field have an extraordinary opportunity to specifically modify the erythrocytes by the introduction of enzymes that generate new metabolic abilities, antibodies that inactivate single metabolic steps, or metabolites that can influence oxygen delivery and/or other cell properties. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetics of any drug can be potentially manipulated by using the erythrocytes as a delivery system. This book, The Use of Resealed Erythrocytes, is based on the fourth meeting of the "International Society for the Use of Resealed Erythrocytes as Carriers and Bioreactors" (I. S. U. R. E. ), held in Urbino, Italy, in 1991, and examines the most recent applications and developments of this technology.

The mammalian erythrocyte is a very suitable model for the study of aging at the cellular and molecular level. It is not only a matter of apparent simplicity in terms of biochemistry, biophysics and physiology but more likely this cell offers a great possibility for elucidating some basic problems in the process of aging. In fact, nowadays, it is possible to follow individual cells all along their life span in circulation, it is possible to obtain these cells when young, middle aged or old and it is possible to obtain cells from individuals of defined ages and transfuse them into compatible recipients to investigate the role of the environment where the cell lives, and finally it is possible to easily manipulate the red cell content in terms of enzymatic activities and/or metabolic properties to investigate the possible effect of these manipulations on cell survival. This book, Red Blood Cell Aging, is based on a symposium held in Urbino, Italy, at the end of 1990 and examines the impact of age on the membrane, metabolism, structural and enzymatic proteins of mammalian erythrocytes. The various contributions to this symposium not only described those processes of aging which affect the cell but also provided a nearly complete picture of the event{s} and mechanism{s} that every day permits to recognize among 25 trillion circulating red cells {in an average adult} that 1 percent that have reached the end of their 120 day life span in circulation.