Does platelet serotonin receptor supersensitivity accompany endogenous depression?

In a population of drug-free bipolar and unipolar depressed women, it was found that the concentration of serotonin sufficient to induce half-maximal shape change velocity in platelets is significantly (p less than 0.001) lower (0.13 +/- 0.0.04 microM) than that of closely matched controls (0.532 +/- 0.1 microM). This platelet concentration becomes higher after 1-3 months of antidepressant treatment (0.47 +/- 0.16 microM). Possible mechanisms for this up- or down-regulation of platelet serotonin receptor responsiveness are discussed.

Single class of muscimol binding sites in the solubilized gamma-aminobutyrate-benzodiazepine receptor complex.

The gamma-aminobutyrate-benzodiazepine receptor complex was solubilized from the rat brain and bovine cortex and partially purified by means of gel chromatography. Analysis of binding parameters of [3H]muscimol indicates that the complex includes only one class of binding sites which presumably represent an apparently low affinity class of two classes of gamma-aminobutyrate A receptors described on the brain membranes. Analysis of the [3H] flunitrazepam specific binding also shows the presence of one class of binding sites sensitive to gamma-aminobutyrate stimulation. The concentration of muscimol binding sites in the gamma-aminobutyrate-benzodiazepine receptor complex was observed to be twice as high as the concentration of benzodiazepine binding sites.

[Binding of acridine orange by chromatin in human lymphocytes with different capabilities for adhesion]. / Sviazyvanie akridinovogo oranzhevogo khromatinom limfotsitov cheloveka s razlichnoi sposobnost'iu k adgezii

A population of morphologically homogenous peripheral blood lymphocytes separated on a column with glass beads was studied microfluorimetrically. It was found that high adhesive lymphocytes bound acridine orange in a greater extent than did low adhesive cells.

[Effect of acid extraction of basic proteins on the binding of acridine orange by cell chromatin]. / Vliianie kislotnoi ékstraktsii osnovnykh belkov na sviazyvanie khromatinom kletok akridinovnogo oranzhevogo

The binding of acridine orange to chromatin of fixed human lymphocytes is increased after stepwise removal of histones by hydrochloric acid. No changes in the dye-binding features of the cells were found after f1 histone extraction (0.01 N HC1). Additional extraction of f2 and f3 by 0.05 N HC1 (partial extraction) and by 0.25 N HC1 (more complete extraction) resulted in increased binding of acridine orange (1.9 and 2.5 of that of the control, respectively).9222

[Nerve growth factor and the state of serotoninergic system in endogenous depression and mental retardation]. / Faktor rosta nervov i sostoianie serotoninergicheskoi sistemy pri éndogennykh depressiiakh i zaderzhke umstvennogo razvitiia.

Platelet parameters of the serotonin system were studied in patients with endogenous depressions and children with late documented phenylketonuria (PKU) before and after antidepressive therapy. There was a significant decrease in the rate of back platelet uptake of 3H-serotonin and an increase in the sensitivity of serotonin receptors to serotonin in the patients before therapy and normalization of these parameters after therapy. The normalization correlated with clinical improvement in patients with endogenous depression. The course therapy with L-DOPA and the antidepressant azaphen resulted in a substantial mental improvement in children with PKU. There was a significant reduction in the ability of platelets from the patients in question to react by releasing 3H-serotonin in response to nerve growth factor stimulation of cells in vitro.

[Autoimmune mechanisms in the genesis of developmental abnormalities of the nervous system]. / Autoimmunnye mekhanizmy v geneze narushenii razvitiia nervnoi sistemy.

The level of autoantibodies to nerve growth factor (NGF) was measured in the sera of infants with mental dysontogenesis and of patients with different mental diseases. The findings suggest that the excessive levels of NGF autoantibodies are responsible for nervous malformations that underlie some nervous and mental diseases and that the body has a certain capacity to normalize clinical and immunochemical parameters. A particular pattern of manifestations of these disorders depends on some factors and primarily on genetic predisposition. NGF autoantibody levels are recommended to be estimated during screening of infants to form mental dysontogenesis risk groups.

[A clinico-biological study of the thrombocyte serotonin-transport complex in therapeutically resistant patients with endogenous depression undergoing combined treatment]. / Kliniko-biologicheskoe issledovanie serotonintransportnogo kompleksa trombotsitov u terapevticheski rezistentnykh bol'nykh éndogennoi depressiei pri kompleksnom lechenii.

The platelet parameters of the functional status of the serotonin-reuptake complex were studied in drug-resistant depressive patients given various regimens of complex therapy or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (fluvoxamine and fluoxetine). The most persistent and marked clinical effect was seen in electroconvulsive therapy and it was due to the normalization of the serotonin-reuptake system.

[Peripheral blood lymphocytes as a biological indicator of physiologic processes in schizophrenia]. / Limfotsity perifericheskoi krovi kak biologicheskii indikator patologicheskikh protsessov pri shizofrenii.

The results of studying the properties of peripheral blood lymphocytes in schizophrenic patients are reviewed. Three parameters are specified in which the patients' lymphocytes differ substantially from those of healthy donors: these are the resistance to osmotic shock and responses of the cells to stimulation with phytohemagglutinin and concanavalin A. It is shown that all the three parameters are controlled by different factors of the schizophrenics' blood serum. Two of them correlate with the clinical manifestations of the disease. It is concluded that the lymphocytes of schizophrenic patients can serve as a biological indicator of the pathophysiological processes taking place in that disease.

[Decrease in the thrombocyte monoamine oxidase activity of schizophrenic patients]. / Snizhenie aktivnosti monoaminoksidazy trombotsitov bol'nykh shizofreniei.

The authors measured the monoaminoxidase activity in thrombocytes of 28 schizophrenic patients and in 36 normal donors. The monoamine oxidase activity in schizophrenic patients was decreased by 14% and in the subgroup of patients with continuous schizophrenia by 19.5% as compared to that of normals. The monoamine oxidase activity in schizophrenic female patients did not significantly differ from the norm, while the male patients differed highly significantly from the normal. The decrease of monoamine oxidase activity correlated with the level of negative disorders (r = 0,71; P less than 0,01). A correlation with positive disorders was not noted.

[Opiate receptors and endogenous morphines: a new approach to the study of the brain]. / Opiatnye retseptory i éndogennye morfiny: novyi podkhod k issledovaniiu mozga.

The paper deals with a range of problems connected with a study of a nature and a function of specific neuronal receptors and endogenous morphines. It is demonstrated that a further development of studies in the given area will be of a principal significance in solving the cardinal problems of psychopharmacology and a search for biological bases of mental diseases. The most perspective ways of studying functional opiate receptors and endogenous morphines in schizophrenia are discussed.

[Physicochemical heterogeneity of the GABA receptors and the detection of the differences in their structural relation with benzodiazepine receptors]. / Fiziko-khimicheskaia geterogennost' GAMK-retseptorov i vyiavlenie razlichii v strukturnoi sviazi s benzodiazepinovymi retseptorami.

The existence of two subpopulations of GABA-receptors was shown by cation-exchange chromatography and isoelectrofocusing methods. One of these populations was purified together with the benzodiazepine receptors. Isoelectric points determined for the two GABA-receptor subpopulations were 4.6 - 5.3 and 5.6 - 5.9. Isoelectric points for the benzodiazepine receptor were 5.6 - 6.1.

[Possible role of genetic factors in increasing the serum neurotropic activity of schizophrenic patients]. / O vozmozhnoi roli geneticheskikh faktorov v povyshenii neirotropnoi aktivnosti syvorotki krovi bol'nykh shizofreniei.

The authors studied the accumulation of individuals with an increased neurotropic blood serum activity among the relatives of schizophrenic patients. In order to evaluate the degree and character of the genetical determination of the biological indices 2 independent approaches were used: the method of a sequential search of genetical significant threshold values of signs (within the framework of a poligenic Falkoner-Edwards model) and the method of a partition of the total phenotypic variance into main compounds on the basis of intrafamilial correlations. It was demonstrated that the studied signs are characterized by a very high degree of a genetical determination. It is assumed that the small amount of specific loci (major genes) with the effect of intraloci dominance or intraloci epistatic interaction are responsible for the given biological marker.

[Role of serum factors in decreasing the reaction of peripheral blood lymphocytes in schizophrenia to PHA stimulation]. / Rol' syvorotochnykh faktorov v snizhenii reaktsii limfotsitov perifericheskoi krovi bol'nykh shizofreniei na stimuliatsiiu FGA.

The blood serum of schizophrenic patients and three of its studied fractions (gamma-globulins and remaining after elimination of gamma-globulins and ultrafiltrate protein fractions) inhibit the lymphocyte response of normals to PHA stimulation (an increase of the DNA content in cells). An insignificant inhibitor effect in the blood serum of normals was seen only in the protein fraction. The PHA precipitating activity of the blood serum in schizophrenic patients which is mainly connected with its protein fraction is increased by 30%. However, there are no correlations between this blood serum activity and its capability to inhibit the response of lymphocytes to PHA stimulation.