HYPERHOMOCYSTEINEMIA AS A CAUSE OF ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION.

Hyperhomocysteinaemia (elevated blood levels of the amino acid homocysteine) attracted the interest of researchers in the middle of the 20th century. At first. Butz and du Vigneaud in 1932 described a disorder of methionine metabolism in children, which was manifested by homocysteinuria (homocysteine is not normally detected in the urine). In 1962 Cavon and Neil found that homocysteinuria in children is associated with a defect in cystathione-B-synthase and manifests early development of atherosclerosis. It is quite possible that these facts would have remained unnoticed by the medical community had it not been for further research by Kilmer McQuilley, a professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. The scientist suggested that while high concentrations of homocysteine could damage blood vessels in young people, it was likely that lower concentrations of homocysteine, acting over a longer period of time, could cause cardiovascular disease in adults. Subsequent studies enabled him to formulate the "homocysteine" theory of atherosclerosis and to publish its main points in 1969. Hyperhomocysteinaemia in young men has been shown to cause damage to the endothelium of blood vessels, and consequently males face the consequent equally global problem of developing erectile dysfunction. Erection is a state regulated by a neurovascular process, characterized by blood filling of the cavernous bodies, provided by neural and humoral mechanisms occurring at different levels of the nervous system. Erectile dysfunction (ED) refers to the inability to achieve and maintain an erection at a level necessary to ensure satisfactory sexual intercourse, Although ED is not life-threatening. it is a serious psychological and physiological problem, and it has now been shown to correlate the quality of intimate life with general health and even with life expectancy, In the USA alone, ED is reported in 20-30 million men, and the prevalence of these disorders increases with age. A study of the homocysteine level of multidisciplinary hospital patients was used as the main marker. The work used laboratory and statistical research methods, as well as analysis and synthesis methods. Using patient analyses, laboratory and statistical data, it has been shown that hyperhomosysteinaemia is one of the molecular mechanisms in the development of erectile dysfunction.

EFFECT OF CHRONIC ADMINISTRATION OF LOW DOSES OF POLYPEPTIDES OF CATTLE CEREBRAL CORTEX AND METHIONYL-GLUTAMYL-HISTIDYL-PHENYLALANYL-PROLYL-GLYCYL-PROLINE ON BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES OF RAT OFFSPRING.

In the modern world, anyone is susceptible to the effects of stress, regardless of age, gender, culture, and social status. Stress at an early age accelerates long-term changes in the functional properties underlying emotional perception and therefore may alter the stress response later in life. Unfortunately, the interdisciplinary approach in stress research emphasised the study of stress phenomenon in the development of this or that pathology or manifestation of appropriate reactions under the influence of this or that factor, i.e. the study of a particular case, which did not significantly affect the conceptual level of interpretation of the stress phenomenon as such. Moreover, we did not come across any publications interpreting the pathogenesis of the development of the classical triad of stress, confirming, or refuting its validity. In this study, we evaluated the effect of nootropic drugs - polypeptides of cattle cerebral cortex and methionyl-glutamyl-histidyl-phenylalanyl-prolyl-glycyl-proline on the behaviour of rat offspring under conditions of maternal deprivation. The drug affects processes related to memory formation and learning, enhances attention during learning and analysis of information, improves adaptation of the organism to hypoxia, cerebral ischaemia, anaesthesia and other damaging effects. As a result of the conducted study against the background of early postnatal maternal deprivation and the use of such drugs as methionyl-glutamyl-histidyl-phenylalanyl-prolyl-glycyl-proline and polypeptides of cattle cerebral it was noted that the latter drug showed the greatest effectiveness as a means of compensating the reaction to chronic stress under conditions of maternal deprivation.