This text introduces the basic methodological tools to measure inositol lipids and phosphates and also describes new approaches that have become available in the last ten years, including g RNA-silencing and the protocols involving inositol pyrophosphates.

This book offers a wide ranging and review of cutting edge developments along with tried and tested methods for isolation, resolution and quantification of inositol phospholipids and inositol polyphosphates in both cells and tissues. It includes detailed and rigorous methodology for identification of molecular species of inositol phospholipids, including their phosphates and glycans, with numerous examples of specific applications. Wherever available, both chromatographic and mass spectrometric evidence is presented for specific phospholipid involvement in the biochemical transformations accompanying metabolic signalling events and, where possible, controversies have been resolved on basis of analytical ambiguity. The review of the lipid analyses extends to products of phosphatidylinositol kinases, phosphatases and lipases. A general review chapter is included on metabolic signalling with special emphasis on the lipid products of 3-kinases. In view of the general lack of commercially available standards for inositol phospholipids and inositol phosphates, the book concludes with a chapter on the preparation and collection of chromatographic and mass spectrometric proof of their purity and identity. This book complements recent books and reviews on the mechanisms metabolic signalling, receptor binding and the polypeptide structure of the proteins involved in the various signalling pathways. It also complements those texts that deal exclusively with the chemical synthesis of the phosphatidylinositols and their polyphosphates and glycans.

The discovery that inositol lipids are integral in cellular signaling mechanisms has been one of the most exciting breakthroughs in recent years. As secondary messengers in a wide variety of tissues and involved processes as diverse as rapid contraction of skeletal muscle, insulin secretion, and the slow activation of cell proliferation in cancer cells, their impact on biochemistry is akin to that of cyclic AMP two decades ago. Drawing together the many strands of research on inositol lipid-mediated signalling and containing contributions by leading authorities in their fields, Inositol Lipids in Cell Signalling is essential for any involved biochemist, cell biologist, or pharmacologist.

Many of the phospholipases and even the receptor for inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate have recently been cloned and sequenced and play an important role in neurotransmission. Methods developed in recent years for the study of the enzymes and intermediates involved in the regulation of neuronal signal transduction involving phospholipid turnover are presented in this volume. - Techniques for examining the role of phosphoinositides in signal transduction - Techniques related to protein kinase C - Analysis of inositol phosphates - Techniques to analyze phospholipid turnover in the brain

The Cell Biology of Inositol Lipids and Phosphates is the published proceedings of the Biochemical Society's Annual Symposium held at the University of Birmingham on 29-31 March 2006, which featured presentations from international experts from across the field of cell signalling who have contributed to this volume. contribution to the field.