With this volume results become generally available of a recent conference that was the first to discuss properties of isolated heart muscle cells from the adult myocardium as a new cardio- logical research tool. The conference was held as an International Erwin Riesch Symposium un- der the auspices of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fUr Herz- und Kreislaufforschung at Spangenberg Castle, March 22-25, 1984. It was made possible through funding by the Erwin Riesch Foun- dation and the Bayer AG which deserve our gratitude for their generosity. It may not be fully reflected in this collection of...