The "International Winter Conferences on Neurodegeneration" have become an established forum to discuss various aspects of basic and clinical topics related to the underlying mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders. This volume is a special edition of supplement 49 from "The Journal of Neural Transmission". The first part of the book focuses on disease models and mechanisms. The areas discussed include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, glial and neuronal death and demyelination/remyelination. The second part concentrates on the molecular biology of neurodegeneration. The topics include molecular genetics of neurological disorders, molecular biology of recognition sites, apoptosis, and neuroimmunology and multiple sclerosis. Contributors have been invited to give state-of-the-art presentations, including their own recent data.