Inflammation has been described as the basis of many pathologies of human disease. When one considers the updated signs of inflammation, they would be vasodilation, cell migration, and, in the case of chronic inflam- tion, cell proliferation, often with an underlying autoimmune basis. Gen- ally, inflammation may be divided into acute, chronic, and autoimmune, - though the editors believe that most, if not all, chronic states are often the result of an autoimmune response to an endogenous antigen. Thus, a proper understanding of the inflammatory basis may provide clues to new therap- tic targets not only in classical inflammatory diseases, but atherosclerosis, cancer, and ischemic heart disease as well. The lack of advances in classical inflammatory diseases, such as rh- matoid arthritis, may in part arise from a failure to classify the disease into different forms. That different forms exist is exemplified in patients with d- fering responses to existing antiinflammatory drugs, ranging from nonresponders to very positive responders for a particular nonsteroidal an- inflammatory drug (NSAID). Though researchers have progressively unr- eled the mechanisms, the story is far from complete. It should also be noted that the inflammatory response is part of the innate immune response, or to use John Hunter’s words in 1795, “inflammation is a salutary response.” That may be applied in particular to the defensive response to invading micro- ganisms.

Table of Contents:
In Vitro Systems for Studying Aspects of the Inflammatory Response and Testing Antiinflammatory Drugs.- Key Stages in the Acute Inflammatory Response and Their Relevance as Therapeutic Targets.- I?B Kinase and NF-?B Signaling in Response to Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines.- Screening for Inhibitors of Transcription Factors Using Luciferase Reporter Gene Expression in Transfected Cells.- Adhesion Molecule Expression on Cytokine-Stimulated Human Endothelial Cells.- Phagocytosis by Inflammatory Phagocytes.- Cytosolic Ca2+ Measurement and Imaging in Inflammatory Cells.- Detection and Visualization of Oxidase Activity in Phagocytes.- Measurement of Complement Activation.- Measurement of Matrix Metalloproteinase Activities in the Medium of Cultured Synoviocytes Using Zymography.- Measurement of Aggrecanase-Generated Interglobular Domain Catabolites in the Medium and Extracts of Cartilage Explants Using Western Blot Analysis.- In Vitro Model of Human Articular Cartilage Degradation.- In Vivo Models of Inflammation.- In Vivo Models of Inflammation.- Carrageenan-Induced Paw Edema in the Rat and Mouse.- Pleural Models of Inflammation.- Models of Acute Inflammation in the Ear.- Migration of Specific Leukocyte Subsets in Response to Cytokine or Chemokine Application In Vivo.- Inflammatory Joint Disease.- The Assessment of Inflammation, Cartilage Matrix, and Bone Loss in Experimental Monoarticular Arthritis of the Rat.- Collagen-Induced Arthritis.- Air-Pouch Models of Inflammation and Modifications for the Study of Granuloma-Mediated Cartilage Degradation.- Quantitative Analysis of Angiogenesis Using the Murine Chronic Granulomatous Air Pouch.- Models of Coronary Artery Occlusion and Reperfusion for the Discovery of Novel Antiischemic and Antiinflammatory Drugs for the Heart.-Assessment of Anticolitic Drugs in the Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid (TNBS) Rat Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.- An In Vivo Model of Ischemia/Reperfusion and Inflammation of the Kidneys of the Rat.- In Vivo Models of Inflammation.- Wound Healing.- Pharmacodynamic Endpoints in Experimental Models and In Clinical Studies in Humans.- An Iconoclastic Approach to Pharmacodynamics in Model Systems: Their Relevance to Humans.- A Reply to “An Iconoclastic Approach to Pharmacodynamics in Model Systems: Their Relevance to Humans“.- Quantifying Inflammation In Vivo Using Radiolabeled Antibodies and Leukocytes.- Immunoperoxidase Histochemistry for the Detection of Cellular Adhesion Molecule, Cytokine, and Chemokine Expression in the Arthritic Synovium.- Roles of Nitric Oxide and Superoxide in Inflammation.- Analysis of Nitrite and Nitrate in the Study of Inflammation.- In Vivo Assays for COX-2.- Measurement of 8-epi-PGF2? as a Marker of Lipid Peroxidation In Vivo by Immunoaffinity Extraction and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.- Laboratory Assessment of the Acute Phase Response.- Assays of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) and MMP Inhibitors.