[Dynamics of beta-lipotropin and beta-endorphin levels in Itsenko-Cushing disease patients being treated with the antiserotonin preparation cyproheptadine (peritol) and chloditan]. / Dinamika soderzhaniia beta-lipotropina i beta-éndorfina u bol'nykh bolezn'iu Itsenko-Kushinga pri lechenii antiserotonnovym preparatom tsiprogeptadinom (peritolom) i khloditanom.

The authors provide the data on the changes in the blood content of opioid neuropeptides in patients with Icenko-Cushing's disease treated with an antiserotonin drug peritol. The high content of beta-endorphine and beta-lipotropin in the patients' blood was one of the factors determining activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system. The treatment of patients with Icenko-Cushing's disease by peritol led to a decrease in the blood content of beta-endorphine and beta-lipotropin, promoting a clinical and laboratory remission in 60% of patients. Some patients treated with peritol did not develop a clinical remission. This indicates the necessity of acting on the metabolism of other monoamines involved in the modulation of the action of neuropeptides on the hypothalamus-pituitary system.

[Age and features of the functional activity of the thyroid gland in experimental hypocorticism]. / Vozrastnye osobennosti funktsional'noi aktivnosti shchitovidnoi zhelezy pri éksperimental'nom gipokortitsizme

Data are presented on age peculiarities of the functional activity of the thyroid gland, thyrotropic function of the hypophysis, transport forms of thyroid hormones, and tissue thyroxin saturation in experimental hypocorticism in rats. Investigations were conducted on albino male rats of three age groups--1 1/2-2, 8-10, 28-32 months old. The changes which took place in rats of different age after adrenalectomy were in the same direction, but unequal in different links of the thyroid gland regulation of metabolism and its function. These changes were expressed in reduction of the thyrotropic function of the hypophysis, of the secretory activity of the thyroid gland, of the thyroxin-binding capacity of the blood serum, and of the tissue thyroxin saturation. With the advance of age there was a marked decrease in the reaction capacities of the functional link of the hypophysis and the thyroid gland tissue, but not in the tissues.

[Effect of thyrotropic hormone on the membrane potential of thyroid gland cells and thyroid hormone secretion with aging]. / Vliianie tireotropnogo gormona na membrannyi potentsial kletok shchitovidnoi zhelezy i sekretsiiu tireoidnykh gormonov pri starenii.

Effect of thyrotropic hormone (TTH) on membrane potential (MP) of thyroid cells and thyroid hormone secretion was studied in experiments on male rats of two age groups (7--12- and 27--32-month-old animals). It was found that during the first 3 hours after TTH administration (5 U/100 g i. v.) the depolarization of secretory cell membranes of adult rats was done pronounced and developed more rapidly than in old ones and that an increase in free thyroxin (T4) correlation with MP changes with time. In a dose of 0.5 U/100 g TTH caused a significant rise in T4 secretion only in old rats. The cAMP level in the thyroid gland declined with aging. In a dose of 5 U/100 g TTH provoked a significant increase in the cAMP content in adult rats and had no effect on its content in old ones. A relationship between the MP level of thyroid secretory cells and thyroid hormone secretion is discussed.

Metabolism of thyroid hormones during aging.

The paper presents experimental data on extrathyroidal metabolism of thyroid hormones in rats of various ages (1.5--32 months):: T4-131I distribution in an organism, indices of T4 and T3 kinetics, tissue deiodinative capacity, formation of T4 tissue metabolism products and their clearance from cells and organism, T4 binding with tissue proteins. Essential changes in T4 peripheral tissue metabolism have been found with aging: T4 binding by tissues is decreased; T4 distribution space and metabolic clearance are increased; 125I clearance with urine is decreased; T4 half-time in blood remains unchanged; tissue deiodinative capacity is enhanced. Indices of T3 peripheral metabolism in old rats remain unchanged. All these findings result in shifts of the T4/T3 ratio in favour of the latter and in invariability of its content in tissues, alongside with a decrease of functional activity of the thyroid gland with aging.

[Thyrotropic activity of the pituitary gland in rats at various age periods]. / Tireotropnaia aktivnost' gipofiza u krys v razlichnye vozrastnye periody.

The thyrotropic activity of the hypophysis (TTH synthesis and secretion) was studied in rats at various age periods. The work was conducted on mongrel male rats of four age groups: 1 1/2-2, 8-10, 18-24, and 28-32-months old. Being relatively low in the sexually immature animals, the thyrotropic activity of the hypophysis considerably intensified in adult rats and diminished with the ageing of the organism. A reduction of the TTH synthesis and secretion in old animals, testified to by the hormone content in the hypophysis and the blood, was apparently connected with the intensification of the T4-deiodating capacity of the hypophysis tissue.

[Dynamics of the concentration of cyclic adenosine monophosphate in the tissues of rats with insulin hypoglycemia]. / Dinamika soderzhaniia tsiklicheskogo adenozinmonofosfata v tkaniakh krys pri insulinovoi gipoglikemii.

The paper is concerned with the data on the cAMP content in rat tissues 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes after insulin injection. Rapidly developing heterogenous changes were recorded in the cAMP content of rat tissues during insulin-induced hypoglycemia and stress reaction. The evidence obtained indicates that during stress reaction the line of the changes in the entire body depends on the triggering of numerous neurohumoral mechanisms that regulate the most essential processes of body activity via the adenylate cyclase system.

[Effect of Nakom on the activity of the hypothalamo-hypophyseo-adrenal system]. / Vliianie nakoma na aktivnost' gipotalamo-gipofizarno-nadpochech-nikovoi sistemy.

The effect of nakom, containing the dopamine precursor levodopa, on the activity of the hypothalamo-hypophysial-adrenal system (HHAS), the content of dopamine in the hypothalamus and the cerebral hemisphere cortex and cAMP in tissues, was studied in experiments on rats. It was revealed, that the preparation in the 2 mg per 100 g dose has a marked inhibiting action on the activity of the HHAS, that is expressed in 2 h by the drop of the level of ACTH, corticosterone, aldosterone in blood that is maintained for 10 hours and disappears 24 hours after the administration. One of the possible mechanisms of the inhibiting action of the preparation on HHAS activity is the increase of dopamine content in the hypothalamus and cerebral hemisphere cortex. The inhibiting action of the preparation on HHAS activity is dose-dependent. The inhibiting influence of nakom on the HHAS activity is realized through the adenylate cyclase system.

Effect of the antiserotonin drug, cyproheptadine, on plasma beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in patients with Itsenko-Cushing's disease.

In the present paper evidences are provided for the changes occurring in blood opioid neuropeptides in patients with Itsenko-Cushing's disease), who were treated with an antiserotonin drug, cyproheptadine (peritol). An increase in the plasma contents of beta-endorphin and beta-lipotrophin in the above patients has been found to be one of the factors conditioning an enhanced activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system. Treatment of the patients suffering from Itsenko-Cushing's disease with cyproheptadine (peritol) resulted in a decrease of the plasma beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin, as well as a display in 60% of cases of clinical and laboratory remission. Absence of the clinical remission in some patients treated with peritol indicated a need for intervention in the metabolism of other monoamines involved in the modulation of the action of opioid neuropeptides on the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary system.

[Potential use of the antiserotonin preparation cyproheptadine (peritol) in Itsenko-Cushing disease]. / Vozmozhnosti ispol'zovaniia antiserotoninovogo preparata tsiprogeptadina (peritola) pri bolezni Itsenko-Kushinga.

Experiments on male rats have shown that the inhibitory effect of peritol on the hypothalamohypophyseal-adrenal system (HHAS) is determined both by its influence on the regulatory mechanisms of the CNS and direct action on secretion and, possibly, synthesis of steroids. The degree of the antiserotonin and the HHAS-inhibiting effects depends on the frequency of drug administrations rather than on its dose. The experimental studies made it possible to successfully apply peritol to the treatment of inpatients suffering from Icenko-Cushing's disease. Almost 60% of the inpatients manifested a remission, which was confirmed by the reduced blood content of ACTH, hydrocortisone and aldosterone.