Scientific progress with respect to the important role of various lipids in myocardial function and the dearrangements of lipid metabolism underlying ischaemic heart disease(s) has been con­ siderable in recent years. In 1986 alone, an overall number ofl 044 full papers covering the topics "Lipids-Heart-Heart Disease", have been published in a variety of biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and cardiology journals (source: Index Medicus). They have broadened our in­ sight into the molecular basis of myocardial lipidology and the lipido-chemical basis of car­ diology in health and disease, and have narrowed the gap between promising pharmacological intervention in experimental animals and clinical treatment of patients suffering from an ischaemic heart. Furthermore, they illustrate the fundamental significance of the product of the union between basic and clinical science. The rapid development of knowledge in the "Lipids-Heart-Heart Disease" triad prompted us to organize the International Symposium on Lipid Metabolism in the Normoxic and lschaemic Heart, held in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) on September 22 and 23, 1986. This meeting was a coproject of the Department of Biochemistry I (Medical Faculty, Erasmus University Rotter­ dam) and the Department of Physiology (Medical Faculty, University of Limburg) and was held under the auspices of the GerritJan Mulder Foundation (named after a famous Rotterdam physi­ cian and chemist who lived from 1802-1880) whom we thank for their co-operation. The present volume is a compendium of invited papers and contributions selected from the posters presented during the symposium.