Effective new treatments of heart disease are based on a refined understanding of cellular function and the heart's response to environmental stresses. Not surprisingly therefore, the field of experimental cardiology has experienced a phase of rapid exponential growth during the last decade. The acquisition of new knowledge has been so fast that textbooks of cardiology or textbooks of cardiovascular physiology are often hard-pressed to keep up with the most important conceptual advances. Witness the explosive increase in knowledge about signaling pathways of cardiac growth, transcrip­ tional regulation of cardiac metabolism, hormonal signaling, and the complex responses of the heart to ischemia, reperfusion, or ischemic preconditioning. This book is meant to bridge the gap between original literature and textbook reviews. It brings together inves­ tigators of various backgrounds who share their expertise in the biology of myocardial ischemia. Each chapter is a self-contained mini-review, but it will soon become apparent to the reader that there is also a common thread: Molecular and cellular cardiology has never been more exciting than now, but ever more exciting times are yet to come. The Editors ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - Publication of this book was generously supported by Sanofi-Aventis Hellas. - Eikon creative team provided the technical assistance in preparing the manuscripts. - We thank Dr. Bernard Swynghedauw for all his scientific support.