[TOXICOMETABOLOMICS: DETERMINATION OF MARKERS OF CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO LOW DOSES OF ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS].

The metabolic profile of plasma of white non-linear rats was investigated under normal conditions and after chronic inhalational exposure to low doses of aliphatic hydrocarbons with the number of carbon atoms from 6 to 10. Metabolic profile was determined with combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high performance, high resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with subsequent use of chemometrical methods for data treatment and presentation. It was shown that continuous 90-day exposure to a mixture of C6-C10 saturated hydrocarbons at concentration of 160 ± 20.5 mg/m³ results in various impairments of metabolic processes in liver and kidneys. Exposure to hydrocarbons at doses of 31.4 ± 5.6 mg/m³ and 5.2 ± 1.8 mg/m³ evoked significantly smaller changes. Novel metabolic markers of the toxic effect of low concentrations of C6-C10 aliphatic hydrocarbons were revealed. The ratio of concentrations of pyrophosphoric and oxalic acids in rat blood plasma was found to be the most sensitive marker called <>. A hypothesis is put forward about the redox balance violation as the leading pathogenetic mechanism of neuropathies and concomitant pathologies associated with hydrocarbon chronic intoxication.

[On the Enzymatic Activity of Albumin].

Albumin molecule, unlike molecules of many other plasma proteins, is not covered with carbohydrate shell. It plays a crucial role in maintaining of colloid osmotic pressure of the blood, and is able to bind and transport various endogenous and exogenous molecules. The enzymatic activity of albumin, the existence and the role of which most researchers are still skeptical to accept, is of the main interest to us. In this review, a history of the issue is traced, with particular attention to the esterase activity of albumin. The kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of the interaction of albumin with some substrates are adduced, and possibility of albumin being attributed to certain groups of Enzyme Nomenclature is considered.