[Clinical efficacy of reamberin in drug-addicts with hepatic lesions].

Infusion of 1.5% reamberin solution was shown to be a safe tool for combined therapy of severe viral hepatitis in drug addicts with signs of polyorganic lesions. Reamberin had detoxicating, antioxidative, hepato- and nephroprotective effects associated with clinical improvement, reduced hospital stay and normalized biochemical characteristics. Moreover, it increased the serum antioxidative potential and non-specific resistance of the patients.

[Efficacy of cytoflavin in therapy of encephalophathy in patients with neuroinfection].

The use of cytoflavin solution in complex therapy of patients with neuroinfection was studied. It showed a favourable effect on the disease clinical process, evident from less pronounced intoxication and meningeal signs by the 11th day of the treatment and improvement of the liquorological picture. The cytoflavin efficacy was also confirmed by normalization of the brain bioelectric activity evident from the electroencephalograms and by reduction of the level of antioxidants, such as metalloproteids and superoxidodismutase, that was in favour of the drug antiinflammatory and antioxidant effects. The use of cytoflavin tablets during in early convalescence period promoted earlier recovery of the intellectual and mnestic reactions. On the whole, the use of cytoflavin promoted favourable process and outcomes of neuroinfections and could be recommended for the use during the acute state and re habilitation of the patients.

[Clinical efficacy of reamberine in therapy for influenza].

AIM: To evaluate the tolerance and therapeutic effectiveness of 1.5% reamberine (RB) solution infusions in complex therapy for pneumonia-complicated pneumonia and acute respiratory diseases (ARD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 133 patients aged 18 to 60 years with pneumonia-complicated influenza and ARD were examined. The investigators measured the dynamic serum levels of metalloproteins (MP), such as transferrin, lactoferrin, and ceruloplasmin, and the activity of superoxide dismutase. They also studied the concentration of secondary lipid peroxidation products (malondialdehyde) by the so-called thiobarbituric acid test. RESULTS: Dropwise intravenous RB infusions exerted a modifying effect on MP content, contributed to more pronounced stabilization of a serum antioxidant potential (versus olifen, vitamin E, and basic therapy) and to enhanced nonspecific protection, which was accompanied by a significant clinical improvement. CONCLUSION: The study revealed the high clinical efficacy of 1.5% RB solution infusions (300 ml for 4-5 days) in the treatment of 74 patients with pneumonia-complicated influenza, stabilized serum antioxidant potential, and the body's enhanced nonspecific resistance.

[Changes in productivity of plant cells as result of cultivation under the space flight conditions]. / Izmenenie produktivnosti kletok rastenii pri kul'tivirovanii v kosmicheskikh usloviiakh.

Effects of space flight on growth and biosynthetic features of plant cells were studied in two strains of ginseng (Panax ginseng) differing in growth and particularly biosynthetic activities, a strain of Lithospermum Erythrorhizon and a strain of Macrotomia Euchroma which produce biologically active naphroquin-derived pigments. --and also differ in growth and biosynthetic properties. Following exposure aboard MIR and a Space shuttle, cells of the callosal cultures were subjected to callosal or suspension passaging. Biomass yield and biologically active substances--ginseng saponins ginsenoids and shikonin were determined in the cells cultures. There was no evidence for the biomass yield to be significantly altered by space flight; however, the content of biologically active substances was materially changed with the strain.

Organization of recurrent inhibition and facilitation in motoneuron pools innervating dorsiflexors of the cat hindlimb.

The incidence of recurrent inhibition and facilitation in motor nuclei innervating the dorsiflexors of the ankle and digits was examined in spinalized, decerebrate cats. Motoneurons innervating the anterior and posterior portions of the tibialis anterior (TAa and TAp, respectively) received strong recurrent inhibition following stimulation of either of the homonymous muscle nerves. Both motoneuron species received substantial recurrent inhibition from the semitendinosus (St), but stimulation of the nerve to the extensor digitorum longus (EDL), an ankle flexor synergist, evoked smaller recurrent IPSPs. TA motoneurons received mainly facilitation from hindlimb extensors of the hip and ankle. Motoneurons of the EDL and extensor digitorum brevis (EDB), synergists which share mechanical action at the metatarsophalangeal joint and the digits, received little recurrent inhibition in response to stimulation of the nerve to either muscle. Overall, stimulation of heteronymous flexor nerves (including TAa, TAp, and St) failed to evoke responses in most of the EDB and EDL neurons tested (50-83%), and the amplitude of recurrent inhibitory responses was small. Recurrent facilitation from the extensors was more common in these motor nuclei. Most responses recorded in EDB motoneurons following either flexor or extensor nerve stimulation were recurrent facilitations. The sensitivity of this facilitation in EDB motoneurons to injection of polarizing current and its central latency indicate that it is mediated by a disinhibitory, trisynaptic pathway. Stimulation of the nerve to EDB produced recurrent IPSPs in some flexor motoneurons, but these potentials were infrequent and their amplitude was usually small. Based on a comparison of the distribution of recurrent inhibition to published reports of the activities of TAa, TAp, EDL, and EDB during different forms of locomotion, we conclude that recurrent inhibition is large for motor nuclei that exhibit stereotypical activity, while motor nuclei that are activated independently receive and produce little recurrent inhibition. Despite the absence of recurrent inhibition in some motor nuclei, recurrent circuits may still participate in their control through disinhibitory, facilitatory mechanisms.

Correlations between neurograms and locomotor drive potentials in motoneurons during fictive locomotion: implications for the organization of locomotor commands.

The patterns of correlation found between motoneuron pools during fictive locomotion are the same whether the coherence functions used to detect the correlations are determined using pairs of rectified ENGs or motoneuron LDPs and rectified ENGs. This finding suggests that the higher frequencies in rectified ENGs (and, perhaps, EMGs) contain information about the synaptic input to motoneurons. Nevertheless, differences between the coherence functions of rectified ENG pairs and those of LDPs and rectified ENGs suggests that this information is distorted by harmonics introduced by rectification. The activities of many motoneuron pools are correlated during the flexor or extensor phase of fictive locomotion, indicating that they receive common synaptic input from branched presynaptic axons or from pools of interneurons whose activities are synchronized. Similar findings were reported by Bayev (1978), based on temporal correlations. Our results indicate that the investigated motor nuclei, which innervate muscles with actions at the hip, knee and ankle, are subject to a set of common locomotor commands. These commands are also received by inhibitory interneurons that project to the motor nuclei of antagonists, as indicated by the correlations between the hyperpolarizing phase of LDPs and activity in the rectified ENGs of antagonists. This last result is consistent with a modular organization for the spinal locomotor generator, in which one set of interneurons drives a motor pool and the inhibitory interneurons that project to the motor pool's antagonist (Jordan, 1991). However, these results also suggest that the spinal modules for locomotion may not be separable into independent unit-burst generators that produce commands for control of each joint as Grillner (1981) has suggested. Our results are more consistent with a model in which a generator distributes flexor and extensor commands to many motor pools (like the half-center model) with as yet unidentified spinal mechanisms that determine differences in the initiation and termination of activity of individual motor nuclei. Alternatively, the correlations between motor pools that we have observed could be explained by spinal mechanisms that synchronize the activity of unit-burst type generators. Despite the distribution of common locomotor commands to many functionally diverse motor nuclei, the spinal locomotor pattern generator is differentiated to the extent that some motor nuclei, like EDL and FDL, receive separate locomotor commands. This conclusion is consistent with other observations. EDL and FDL display distinctive, individualized patterns of locomotor activity that may vary in a facultative manner or in different forms of locomotion (O'Donovan et al., 1980; Trank et al., 1996). A recent study has shown that during fictive locomotion EDL and FDL motoneurons receive input from different sets of last-order interneurons than those which project to other motor pools (Degtyarenko et al., 1998). These results suggest that spinal locomotor generators are differentiated for the individualized control of some digit muscles, like FDL and EDL.

Organization of recurrent inhibition and facilitation in motor nuclei innervating ankle muscles of the cat.

The distribution of recurrent inhibition and facilitation to motor nuclei of muscles that act at the cat ankle joint was compared with the locomotor activity and mechanical action of those muscles described in published studies. Emphasis was placed on motor nuclei whose muscles have a principal action about the abduction-adduction axis and the pretibial flexors: tibialis posterior (TP), peroneus longus (PerL), peroneus brevis (PerB), the anterior part of tibialis anterior (TA) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL). Most intracellular recordings in spinalized, unanesthetized decerebrate cats showed only inhibitory or excitatory responses to antidromic stimulation of peripheral nerves, but mixed effects were also seen. Recurrent effects among motor nuclei of ankle abductors and adductors were not distributed uniformly. TP motoneurons received recurrent inhibition from most other nuclei active in stance and stimulation of the TP nerve inhibited these motor nuclei. Although PerB motoneurons are also active during stance, they received primarily facilitation from most motor nuclei. PerL received mixtures of inhibition and facilitation from all sources. Stimulation of the nerves to PerL, PerB, and peroneus tertius (PerT) produced weak recurrent inhibition and facilitation, even in homonymous motoneurons and motoneurons of Ia synergists. The ankle flexors TA and EDL displayed different patterns of recurrent inhibition and facilitation. TA motoneurons received prominent homonymous inhibition and inhibition from semitendinosus (St). EDL, whose activity profile differs from TA and which also acts at the digits, did not receive strong recurrent inhibition from either TA or St, nor did stimulation of the EDL nerve produce much inhibition. The distribution of recurrent inhibition and facilitation is correlated with the pattern of locomotor activity, but with exceptions that suggest an influence of mechanical action, particularly in the antagonistic interactions between TP and PerB. The extended pattern of recurrent inhibition, the reduction or absence of inhibition produced by motor nuclei with individualized functions or digit function and the prevalence of facilitation suggest that the recurrent Renshaw system is organized into inhibitory and disinhibitory projections that participate in the control of sets of motor nuclei engaged in rhythmic and stereotyped movements.

[Isolation and properties of superoxide dismutase from human blood plasma]. / Vydelenie i svoistva superoksiddismutazy plazmy krovi cheloveka.

A procedure for purification of superoxide dismutase (SOD) from human blood plasma has been developed, which includes gel filtration on Ultrogels AcA-34 and AcA-44 (LKB, Sweden). The protein purified from blood plasma is a glycoprotein which is thermostable at 70-80 degrees C. The molecular mass of the protein determined immediately after gel filtration is approximately 147,000 daltons. A comparative analysis of effects on the SOD activity of plasma and erythrocytes of compounds capable of forming chelating complexes with metals within the enzyme active center has been carried out. The purified enzyme differs by its physico-chemical characteristics from cytosolic Cu,Zn-SOD and pertains to a new class of SOD, the so-called extracellular SOD, detected in some biological fluids.

[The immunoenzyme analysis of ceruloplasmin]. / Immunofermentnyi analiz tseruloplazmina.

A highly specific and sensitive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) system, suitable for the qualitative analysis of ceruloplasmin, has been developed. The possibility of its use for the examination of children with mononucleosis and pseudotuberculosis has been studied. An increase in the concentration of ceruloplasmin has been more pronounced in infectious mononucleosis (0.506 +/- 0.026 g/l) and pseudotuberculosis (0.421 +/- 0.157 g/l). The results of EIA coincided with the data obtained by radial immunodiffusion.

[Reversibility of the effect of the change in time of the magnetic field on molluscan neurons]. / Ob obratimosti vliianiia meniaiushchegosia vo vremeni magnitnogo polia na neirony molliuska.

Influence of a single impulse of magnetic field (MF) of trapezoidal shape with 10 Oe amplitude on neuron electrical activity (EA) of Lymnaea stagnalis was studied. It has been found that both leading and trailing edges of MF impulse separately were able to change EA of the cells. Nevertheless the impulses with a short time between the edges were found to be of small efficiency. It was suggested that the influence of the rotation electric field induced by the leading edge of this pulse was abolished by the influence of that induced by the trailing edge. The efficiency of MF impulse influence increased with increasing the interval between their edges and ran to the maximum during 10 s interval.

[Responses of neurons of the parietal association cortex of the cat to acoustic stimulation before and after suppression of the auditory cortex in the cat]. / Reaktsii neironov temennoi assotsiativnoi kory koshki na zvukovoe razdrazhenie do i posle vykliucheniia slukhovoi kory.

The aim of this work was to study the influence of auditory cortex suppression in cat on response patterns of the parietal associative cortex neurons responding to different frequency tones. Suppression was performed by two methods: bilateral isolation and application of 6% nembutal solution on the cortex surface. Frequency-thresholds curves were plotted for all neurons studied. Prior to suppression the majority (84%) of studied neurons had one or two characteristic frequencies. After suppression the percentage of such cells fell to 63% of all responding neurons. Frequency range to which neurons could respond was altered as well. Normally almost all neurons tested could respond to a wide spectrum of presented frequencies. After suppression 69% of neurons did not respond to tones above 8-10 kHz. This may indicate that mainly information about high frequency tones is transmitted via the auditory cortex. The possibility that associative thalamic nuclei are the main source of acoustic information for parietal associative cortex neurons is discussed.

[Effect of a series of small amplitude magnetic field pulses on the electrical activity of mollusk neurons]. / Vliianie serii impul'sov magnitnogo polia maloi amplitudy na élektricheskuiu aktivnost' neironov molliuska.

Possibility of summing up in time the effects of small values of impulses of 1 Oe magnitude magnetic field (MF) on the electrical activity (EA) of Lymnaea stagnalis neurons was studied. The single impulse of MF did not cause changes in neurons EA. EA changes took place under the action of 5-8 impulses of MF. The neuron reaction has a threshold nature dependent on the number of applied impulses.

[Effect of a single magnetic field pulse on the electric activity of mollusk neurons]. / Vliianie odinochnogo impul'sa magnitnogo polia na élektricheskuiu aktivnost' neronov molliuska.

The influence of a single impulse of magnetic field (MF) of triangular shape of neuron electrical activity (EA) of Limnaea stagnalis registered intracellulary was studied. The dependence of the neuron reaction on the MP speed changing has been found. The effective values of speeds of impulse fronts were within 0,1 to 10,0 mT/c range. The threshold amplitude of MF impulse for most neurons was between 0,1 and 1,0 mT. With increasing MF amplitude up to 10,0 mT the efficiency of the effect does not essentially increase.