This volume contains a comprehensive review of basic cardiovascular anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology as well as a detailed analysis of the various classes of compounds affecting the heart and blood vessels. Cardiovascular biology will include embryologic development, physiology, and molecular pharmacology of the system. Methods for evaluation of the heart and blood vessels will be reviewed, including both in vivo and in vitro methods of study. Separate sections will deal with the response of the heart and blood vessels to injury, with emphasis on mechanisms of toxic injury. Specific compounds are classified according to their major mechanisms of toxicity, and are reviewed with prime examples of those compounds for which the cellular and molecular mechanisms are best known. Emphasis is on toxicologic studies in experimental animals where mechanisms have been most thoroughly investigated, but the relationship of results from animal studies will be made to toxicologic lesions in man. Finally, there is an assessment of the problems related to the use of toxicologic studies in animals for clinical application in man.