In the eight years since the publication of Volume 63 of Progress in Brain Research, on this subject, developments in the research field have been very fast. For example, receptor physiology and pharmacology is now an intensively studied field, and the excitotoxic hypothesis of cell death is commonly accepted. Furthermore, it is recognized that ischemia and other insults give rise to a sustained depression of overall protein synthesis, yet lead to the expression of dormant genes and to synthesis of new proteins.In view of this development, this volume focusses on the cellular and molecular aspects of ischemic brain damage. The book will be of great value to all those interested in the pathophysiology of ischemic and traumatic brain damage.