The cellular events underlying rapid cellular damage in different organs are potentially of great medical importance, for example muscular dystrophy, liver damage and the preservation of kidneys for transplantation. Many hypotheses exist for the biochemical pathways involved in these damage processes. The roles of calcium and active oxygen metabolites are of particular interest. There is considerable literature on both these triggering agents and good evidence for their involvement in the genesis of damage, although little agreement on their precise roles. This volume records the proceedings of a meeting held by the Society for Experimental Biology that attempted to determine whether there are common mechanisms of cellular damage and to explore the ways in which calcium and oxygen radicals may interact to generate damage. The questions addressed, in particular, are whether there are any common biochemical pathways, and the specific and possibly interacting roles of calcium and active oxygen metabolites.