Regulation of reactive oxygen species production by peripheral blood neutrophils from women with postpartum endometritis.

Production of reactive oxygen species in unfractionated peripheral blood increased in parturient women without postpartum infectious complications and patients with postpartum endometritis. The control group included nonpregnant women with normal reproductive function. Intergroup differences were revealed in the degree of respiratory burst activation with opsonized zymosan and response of isolated granulocytes to chemotactic peptide N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phen (1 muM). Production of reactive oxygen species tended to normal after therapy. We studied the effects of a specific mitogen-activated protein kinase p38MAPK inhibitor and inhibitors of tyrosine protein phosphatases and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase. The role of p38MAPK in reactive oxygen species generation by cells changes significantly in parturient women.

Ratio between the number of Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and concentration of proinflammatory cytokines in lochia of women with postpartum endometritis.

We estimated the percentage of CD4+ lymphocytes synthesizing IFN-gamma and IL-4 in the peripheral blood and measured the concentrations of IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha in lochia of patients with postpartum endometritis. T lymphocytes with intracellular IFN-gamma prevailed in women with physiological course of the postpartum period. The number of cells containing IL-4 increased in patients with postpartum endometritis. On days 5-7 after childbirth the concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in lochia of these patients were higher than in healthy postpartum women (by 1.4 and 2.7 times, respectively). The concentrations of cytokines IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, and IL-6 increased most significantly in patients with postpartum endometritis and active viral infection (by 3.4, 4.2, and 1.6 times, respectively).

[The transplacental passage and distribution of ceftazidime in the fetal and maternal organs in a 2nd-trimester abortion]. / Transplatsentarnyi perekhod i raspredelenie tseftazidima v organakh ploda i zhenshchin pri preryvanii beremennosti vo II trimestre.

Transplacental passage of ceftazidime was studied in 17 women with second-trimester pregnancy which had to be discontinued for medical causes. A single intramuscular injection of the antibiotic resulted in creation of therapeutically active concentrations in fetal blood and organs, amniotic fluid, and placenta. Transplacental passage of ceftazidime from the mother to the fetus was 19.12%, diffusions to the amniotic fluid 14.46%, diffusion to the placenta 48.46%. Ceftazidime may be effective for the prevention and therapy of fetal intrauterine infection and chorioamnionitis.

[The transplacental transit and action of ceftazidime on the fetus in an experiment on animals at different times of the pregnancy]. / Transplatsentarnyi perekhod i deistvie tseftazidima na plod v éksperimente u zhivotnykh v raznye sroki beremennosti.

The experiments were conducted on pregnant albino rats to study the transplacental transit of ceftazidime (Fortum) to the fetus on days 14 and 21 of pregnancy after a single intramuscular injection of 100 mg/kg. The antibiotic transition was 5.23, and 51.94% on days 14 and 21, respectively. The total toxic and embryotoxic effects of ceftazidime were studied in pregnant albino rats given intramuscular injections of 100 and 500 mg/kg/day on days 9-20 of pregnancy. Ceftazidime was found to have neither negative effects on the maternal body and nor embryotoxic and teratogenic properties.