A detailed methodology for analysis of various lipid signalling pathways. Authoritative contributors explain the factors that regulate lipid second messenger production by agonist-activated enzymes and examine their products. Topics discussed include procedures used to measure lipid-derived mediators such as lysophospholipids, arachidonic acid, eicosanoids, anandamide and ceramides, and the enzymes responsible for generating these messengers, such as phospholipases, prostaglandin endoperoxide synthases and sphingomyelinase.

This volume is based in part upon the proceedings of the Calcium Theme held during the 67th Annual Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, which took place in Chicago, AprillO-lS, 1983. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics had the primary responsibility for organizing the scientific program with the assistance of other member societies, including the American Physiology Society, American Association of Pathologists, and American Institute of Nutrition. The purpose of the Calcium Theme was to review progress in the diverse areas...

Since the publication of my previous monograph in 1974, important progress has been made in the broad area of calcium research, partic ularly as it pertains to secretory phenomena. The significant advance in methodology, while widening the scope of our knowledge, has caused research in this particular area to become more and more specialized. It has, therefore, become increasingly difficult for researchers to consider and evaluate work outside their own areas of specialization and to com prehend the field from a broad perspective. While many valuable re views on the importance of calcium in...