The inaugural lecture of the Academic Year 1992-1993 of the Catalan Society of Pharmacology, in collaboration with the Esteve Foundation, was imparted by Prof. José L. López Barneo, from the Department of Medical Physiology and Biophysics from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Seville, under the title Ion channels: participation in cellular physiology and pharmacological implications. The lecture was held at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands on October 26, 1992.