[The biological evaluation of depression severity: a novel method for the determination of platelet serotonin concentration].

OBJECTIVE: To develop a highly sensitive method for the determination of platelet-rich plasma serotonin concentration for every-day clinical practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The method was developed for determination of serotonin in plateled-rich plasma. Serotonin was determined using high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescent detection and hematologic analyzer. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: In healthy people, concentrations of platelet serotonin were similar to those reported in literature: from 2.19 to 4.87 nmol/109 platelets. In patients with depression (n=30), platelet serotonin concentrations were lower (from 0.11 to 2.89 nmol/109 platelets) and correlated with the severity of depression. The method may be used in clinical purposes.

[N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide and cardiac involvement in patients with hypertensive disease].

The purpose of this study was to define a correlation between N-terminal proBNP level and extent of cardiac abnormalities. A total of 40 patients with hypertension were included in the study (60.5+/-7.6 years of age; 18 men, 22 women). It was found that patients with hypertension had increased plasma N-terminal proBNP level, that it increased with age and tended to be higher in patients with concentric hypertrophy compared with those with normal geometry and eccentric hypertrophy; however, the differences were not significant. N-terminal proBNP concentration depended on ventricular septal thickness and left ventricular wall thickness. Analysis of association between N-proBNP level and parameters of myocardial diastolic function showed that increased plasma peptide levels correlated with degree of diastolic dysfunction in patients with altered left ventricular relaxation.

[Electrophysiological action of ethacizin in acute myocardial ischemia in dogs]. / Elektrofiziologicheskoe deistvie étatsizina pri ostroi ishemii miokarda u sobak.

The effects of ethacizin on delayed activation of the ischemic myocardium by acute left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion were studied in dogs. Ethacizin, administered intravenously at a dose of 0.5 or 1 mg/kg depressed the conduction of excitation in the ischemic myocardium and significantly increased the incidence of ventricular fibrillation. Electrophysiological effects of ethacizin in acute myocardial ischemia, as well as its antiarrhythmic activity at the advanced stages of experimental myocardial infarction might be related to an intensive influence of ethacizin on fast inward sodium current in the myocardial fibers.

[Correlation between the anti-arrhythmia effect of ethacizin and pharmacokinetic parameters in a model of rhythm adoption by the heart]. / Korreliatsiia mezhdu antiaritmicheskim deistviem etatsizina i farmakokineticheskimi parametrami na modeli usvoeniia ritma serdtsa.

Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of ethacizin were studied in a model of rhythm adoption by the heart, with the drug administered intravenously to anesthetized cats. A relation was demonstrated between blood ethacizin pattern and the drug's biphasic effect on the adoption of stimulation-imposed pace by the heart and ventricular fibrillation threshold. The estimated correlation coefficients, reflecting the relationship between the development of ethacizin anti-arrhythmic and antifibrillation effects and variation of its plasma levels between 10 and 120 min after the administration, were rather high (-0.85 and +0.93, respectively). Ethacizin shows anti-arrhythmic and antifibrillation activity when its plasma levels are between 2400 and 200 ng/ml.

[First results of the clinical use of ethacizin in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation]. / Pervye rezul'taty klinicheskogo primeneniia etatsizina u bol'nykh s paroksizmal'noi mertsatel'noi aritmiei.

Fifty-six patients with frequently occurring paroxysms of atrial fibrillation were examined for the clinical efficacy of a new antiarrhythmic drug etacyzine (a diethylamine analog of etmozin). The use of the drug in doses of 50 to 70 mg intravenously and in doses in 150 to 200 mg per os a day removed and prevented the occurrence of atrial fibrillation paroxysms in 60 to 65% of cases, whereas etmozin in doses of 50 mg intravenously and 600 to 800 mg per os day did not produce any positive anti-arrthythma effect in the patients. The prolonged use of etacyzine (up to 1 year and over) exerted a beneficial antiarrhythmic action almost in all the patients. The drug did not provoke any serious side effects. However, in some patients, the use of the drug promoted a substantial prolongation of the P-Q interval and widening of the QRS complex of the ECG. In one female patient, the drug caused a paradoxical repetition of the ventricular rhythm.