This volume is a collection of papers contributed by partici- pants in the Symposium on Recent Advances in Ca++ and Cell Function, Calmodulin and Intracellular Ca++ Receptors, held in Kyoto, Japan, July 25-29, 1981. This meeting was one of the satellite symposia to the 8th International Congress of Pharmacology (Tokyo, 1981). Calcium ion is a well known intracellular messenger. Since troponin and calmodulin were found to be intracellular medi- ators of a number of actions of Ca++, the functions of this ion, with relevance to its intracellular receptive proteins, have received a great deal of attention from workers in the fields of biochemistry, biology, pharmacology, physiology, endocrinology, clinical medicine, and related fields. The symposium was designed to illuminate new aspects of this rapidly growing field of research and extensive discus- sions on various topics were carried out. This volume contains all the papers presented plus the abstracts of the Poster Presentations. Both researchers and students should find the data and references of considerable value in their studies.
We gratefully acknowledge the sponsorship of the Committees of the 8th International Congress of Pharmacology and the Yamada Science Foundation. We also thank Dr. S. Akabori for his encouragement and support. Special thanks are extented to Ms. S. Ikukawa, Ms. A. Yoshikawa, M. Ohara and all our colleagues who contributed much to the symposium. We also extend our appreciation to Mrs. F. Comes and Patricia M. Vann for the editing and preparation of the manuscript in its final form.