The volume here presented reports all the lectures given at the International Satellite Meeting on Biochemical and Pharmacological Implications of Ganglioside Function held at Cortona, Tuscany, Italy from 28 to 31 August, 1975. The Meeting was run just before the 5th International Congress of the International Society for Neurochemistry (Barcelona, 2-7 September, 1975) and was in fact organized on its frame. The general subject matter of gangliosides structure, biosynthesis and degradation, of their functional role in neurochemistry, their pharmacological action and future potentialities, was deeply and throughly taken into consideration during the three-day Symposium, which was brilliantly directed and guided by Dr. L. Svenner. The meeting gave certainly, in our opinion, a valuable stimus to research workers interested in the biophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology of gangliosides.