The International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue (ISOTT) was founded in 1973 "to facilitate the exchange of scientific information among those interested in any aspect of the transport and/or utilization of oxygen in tissues". Its members span virtually all disciplines, ex tending from various branches of clinical medicine such as anesthesiology, ophthalmology and surgery through the basic medical sciences of physiology and biochemistry to the physical sciences and engineering. The fifteenth annual meeting of ISOTT was held in 1987 for three days, from July 22 to 24, at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. Previously, all ISOTT meetings had been held in Europe or the USA alternatively. This time, however, the meeting was held for the first time in an Asian country. When we first started preparing for this meeting some of our members were afraid that the number of those attending would not exceed '30. Fortunately the results were quite different. We had more than 60 participants from abroad and an even greater number from Japan. In addition to three special lectures and two symposia there were a total of 88 posters presented over the three days of the meeting. These covered all aspects of physiological oxygen transport including convection, diffusion, chemical reaction, and control of oxygen demand in blood and various tissues as well as the methods, models and instrumentation for their study. The 92 papers which comprise this volume encompass all of these areas.

This presentation describes various aspects of the regulation of tissue oxygenation, including the roles of the circulatory system, respiratory system, and blood, the carrier of oxygen within these components of the cardiorespiratory system. The respiratory system takes oxygen from the atmosphere and transports it by diffusion from the air in the alveoli to the blood flowing through the pulmonary capillaries. The cardiovascular system then moves the oxygenated blood from the heart to the microcirculation of the various organs by convection, where oxygen is released from hemoglobin in the red blood cells and moves to the parenchymal cells of each tissue by diffusion. Oxygen that has diffused into cells is then utilized in the mitochondria to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of all cells. The mitochondria are able to produce ATP until the oxygen tension or PO2 on the cell surface falls to a critical level of about 4–5 mm Hg. Thus, in order to meet the energetic needs of cells, it is important to maintain a continuous supply of oxygen to the mitochondria at or above the critical PO2 . In order to accomplish this desired outcome, the cardiorespiratory system, including the blood, must be capable of regulation to ensure survival of all tissues under a wide range of circumstances. The purpose of this presentation is to provide basic information about the operation and regulation of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, as well as the properties of the blood and parenchymal cells, so that a fundamental understanding of the regulation of tissue oxygenation is achieved.

It can honestly be said that the scope and magnitude of this meeting surpassed initial expectations with respect to the number and quality of the papers presented. Our group has grown since we last met in Dortmund in 1971. This is a good indication that a spiraling of our interests has taken place with the effects of the initial good work felt, not just in one corner of the globe, but in all four. With such a start, it was only appropriate that an international society was formed at the meeting to further coordinate our mutual undertaking. Henceforth it shall be known as the International Society of Oxygen Transport to Tissue. A final note of acknowledgement should be made to those who were in the supporting cast, not only in making the meeting in Charleston and Clemson a success, but also in the compiling of this book. Gratitude is due to Dr. Daniel H. Hunt for his efforts, the end product of which you have in your hands. Considerable service was rendered by Mr. Robert J. Adams, Mr. Buddy Bell and Mr. Nathan Kaufman during the symposium itself. Much typing, organizing and record keeping was done by our lovely secretaries, Laura B. Grove, Muff Graham and Kaye Y. Zook.

The 30th scientific meeting of the International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue (ISOTT) was held at the Western Conference Centre, UMIST, Manchester, in August 2002. It was attended by some 96 delegates and accompanying persons and there were 128 presentations.

Seventeen years after the 2nd International Symposium on Oxygen Transport to Tissue, which was held in Mainz in March 1975, the local Organizing Committee and the Board of ISOTT were pleased to host the ISOTT Conference in Mainz on the Rhine again. The venue of the 20th meeting was the prestigious, fully restored Schloss Waldthausen (Waldthausen Castle) which provided a special setting for ISOTT 1992. The beautiful front view of the castle became part of the ISOTT 1992 logo. The 20th ISOTT Meeting was held in Mainz from August 26th through August 30th, 1992. The Conference attracted 200 active participants from 16 countries. The theme of this meeting emphasized oxygen transport to tumors but as in earlier meetings, essentially all aspects of oxygen transport within the body were covered as demonstrated by the manuscripts comprising this volume of the series "Oxygen Transport to Tissue". All manuscripts were reviewed. Extensive revisions were made in about 25% and modest revision in about another 30%. Because we had to compromise between the aim of rapid publication on the one hand and the need for thorough review on the other, minor errors in format and some typographical errors were not corrected. Except for some revisions, all of the original camera-ready manuscripts in this volume were prepared by the authors themselves and we greatly appreciate their cooperation.

The International Society on Oxygen Transport to Tissue (ISOTT, www. isott. info) is an interdisciplinary society comprising about 250 members worldwide. Its purpose is to further the understanding of all aspects of the processes involved in the transport of oxygen from the air to its ultimate consumption in the cells of the various organs of the body. The annual meeting brings together scientists, engineers, clinicians and mathematicians in a unique int- national forum for the exchange of information and knowledge, the updating of participants on latest developments and techniques, and the discussion of controversial issues within the field of oxygen transport to tissue. Founded in 1973, the society has been the leading platform for the presentation of many of the technological and conceptual developments within the field both at the meetings themselves and in the proceedings of the society. These have been published first by Plenum Publishing (1973), then by Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers and presently by Springer Publishing, all in the Advances In Expe- mental Medicine and Biology Series. The 36th Annual ISOTT conference was held in Sapporo, Japan during August 3–7, 2008. It was the second occasion that the ISOTT meeting was held in Japan; the first one was held in the same place in 1987 organized by Professor Masaji Mochizuki.