Prostaglandins, Platelets, Lipids: New Developments in Atherosclerosis focuses on developments pertaining to atherosclerosis and suggested novel approaches for its prevention, treatment, and complications. The selection first underscores the biological importance and therapeutic potential of prostacyclin and rationale for the suppression of platelet aggregation and thrombosis by dietary manipulation of fatty acids. Discussions focus on eicosapentaenoic acid as a potential antithrombotic substance, vascular effects of prostacyclin, antithrombotic and hemostatic effects of prostacyclin, fatty acids, prostacyclin, and thrombosis, and therapeutic uses of prostacyclin. The text then examines prostaglandins and hypertension, role of platelets in stroke and transient ischemic attack, and antiplatelet agents in the prevention of acute coronary events. Topics include thrombosis and clinical complications of atherosclerosis, mechanisms in thrombosis, vascular prostaglandins and antihypertensive mechanisms, and renal prostaglandins and antihypertensive mechanisms. The book ponders on a specific inhibitor of thrombin and cardiovascular actions of prostacyclin in man, including prostacyclin and angina pectoris, prostacyclin therapy for peripheral arterial disease, and hemodynamic changes induced by prostacyclin. The selection is a dependable source of data for researchers interested in atherosclerosis.

Knowledge of mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of occlusive arterial dis eases is fundamental for the design of prevention and treatment. A series of studies based on in vitro investigations, the experimental animal and the human being have slowly increased our understanding of cardiovascular diseases and unveiled their secrets to us. Over the last 60 years it has been generally assumed that dietary fats and lipids and the occurrence of atherosclerosis are closely related. Yet, even if epidemiological studies clearly indicate the existence of an association between the amount of composition of dietary lipids and morbidity and mortality of cardio vascular disease, our basic knowledge on cause and effect is still hidden in a cloud of uncertainty. The present book discusses the relation between dietary lipids and arterial throm bosis, which latter process has been observed in the coronary arteries in up to 90% of subjects with acute myocardial infaction. In this volume Dr. Hornstra, who has occupied himself with thrombosis research with never-failing enthusiasm, great skill and critical approach for the last fifteen years, tries to establish possible links between lipid metabolism and thrombosis. His literature studies are comprehensive and his investigations are impressive in that they give a new dimension and a new methodology to research of lipids and thrombosis.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is the commonly used name for a group of potent biologically active, ether-linked phospholipids, the alkylacetylglycerophospho cholines. Following the identification of the chemical structure of P AF in 1979, much progress has been made in our understanding of these phospholipid medi ators. This is particularly true from the points of view of their molecular structural requirements for expression of biological activity, their biosynthesis and cata bolism, their diverse range of biological activities, evidence for their specific recep tors at the cell surface, the development of specific antagonists for use in receptor studies and for testing as potential anti-PAF drugs, and implications about their involvement in health and disease. Chapters in this book cover the current status of these general areas of PAF research. Although an enormous amount of information has been published about this interesting new type of phospholipid mediators, questions about their mechanism of action, regulatory controls, and the precise role and relative importance of P AF in specific diseases and physiological functions remain to be answered. Since the 1979 discovery, the PAF field has brought together scientists from a variety of different biomedical disciplines. The diversity of scientists now in PAF research is very apparent from the number of P AF publications appearing in a wide array of scientific journals, ranging from molecular biology to clinical medicine. Publications related to PAF continue to increase at an amazingly rapid rate, with the pace reminiscent of the period following the discovery of prostaglandins.