In the vast field of neuroscience, the introduction over the last 30 years of new investigative techniques (such as transmission and scanning electron microscopy, freeze-fracturing technique, cell organelle isolation by differential centrifugation, autoradiography, tracing techniques and immunocytochemistry) has greatly expanded our knowledge of neurocytology. This new information, however, is generally dispersed in the specialist journals or collected in reviews on specific topics. As a result, those whose interests lie in neurocytology have difficulty not only in finding data relative to their particular research, but also and above all, in gaining an overall and systematic vision of their discipline. It was this situation which prompted Ennio Pannese to systematize the major acquisitions on the minute structure of nerve and neuroglial cells and their interrelationships, correlate them with the classical concepts of light microscopy and integrate them, where possible, with elements of biochemistry and cell physiology.