Overview

The volume which is here presented reports all the lectures given at the International Satellite Meeting on Biochemical and Pharmacological Implications of Ganglioside Function held at Cor- tona, Tuscany, Italy from 28 to 31 August, 1975. The Meeting was run just before the 5th International Congress of the International Society for Neurochemistry (Barcelona, 2-7 september, 1975) and was in fact organized on its frame. The general subject matter of gangliosides structure, biosyn- thesis and degradation, of their functional role in neurochemistry, their pharmacological action and future potentialities, was deeply and throughly taken into consideration during the three-day Sympo- sium, which was brilliantly directed and guided by Dr. L. Svenner- holm. The meeting gave certainly, in our opinion, a valuable stimu- lus to research workers interested in the biophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology of gangliosides. The e- ditors wish to express their thanhd to the speakers, the discussants, the Meeting Chairman, the section chairmen and to all the attendants who have taken part at the Symposium and who actively and deeply discussed the delivered lectures. Our final thank is also for Dr. Francesco della Valle, official representative of FIDIA Research Laboratories, Abano Terme, Padua, Italy, to whom we are grateful for his continuous and efficient support. The contribution of the Secretarial Staffs of both the v PREFACE Department of Biochemistry of Perugia University and FIDIA Labora- tories to the editorial work is also gratefully acknowledged.