[Molecular and genetic study of the role of hormones, receptors, and enzymes in regulation of reproduction, lipid metabolism, and other human physiological functions].

Prevalence of uterine progesterone receptors over estrogen ones, high uterine cAMP level, and low uterine prostaglandin level are necessary conditions of normal pregnancy. In cases of spontaneous and antiprogestin RU486-induced abortions, estrogen receptors prevail over progesterone ones, cAMP level decreases, and prostaglandin concentration in decidual tissue increases. Porcine and bovine beta-lipotropines were the first proteins, whose correct amino acid sequence was first determined in Russia. Several research centers carried out collaborative studies of the nucleotide sequences of human and animal proopiomelanocortin (lipotropin precursor) and prolactin cDNA. Researchers constructed genetic engineering producers of human pre-proinsulin and somatostatin, identified structural genes expressed in pancreatic beta-cells, studied antigenic properties of glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), which determine insulin-dependent diabetes, and identified the cholesterase determinant. They revealed mutations in the genes of proopiomelanocortin and melanocortin receptors (MC4-P), which inhibit leptin regulation of appetite and are associated with human obesity.

[Sex hormone receptors, prostaglandins and cAMP, in functional activity of the uterus]. / Rol retseptorov polovykh gormonov, prostaglandinov i TsAMF v funktsionalnoi aktivnosti matki.

The levels of progesterone and estrogen receptors, cAMP and prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha were studied in the decidua of pregnant women, which was obtained during surgical, spontaneous or prostaglandin-induced abortion or by pregnancy termination with vacuum aspiration after RU-486 treatment (before the onset of abortion). Our data have allowed the authors to suggest that (i) for the maintenance of normal activity of decidua during pregnancy, the following points are considerably important: the constant ratio of progesterone and estrogen receptors in favor of progesterone receptors, low PG levels and high cAMP levels; (ii) both spontaneous and induced abortion are characterized by decreases in the levels of progesterone receptor (which in turn changes the ratio of progesterone and estrogen receptors in favor of the latter), by increased PG levels and decreasing cAMP concentrations.

[Humoral autoimmunity markers in autoimmune endocrine diseases]. / Markery gumoralnogo autoimmuniteta pri autoimmunnykh éndokrinnykh zabolevaniiakh.

To clarify the value of autoantibodies as risk factors of complications in various endocrine abnormalities, the incidence of autoantibodies to thyroid microsomal antigen (ATMA), thyroglobulin, and the surface antigens of the rat islet, adrenal cortex, adenohypophyseal cells and human skin fibroblasts was studied in patients with insulin-dependent mellitus (IDDM), at the onset of the disease and during one-year insulin therapy, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), Hashimoto thyroiditis, Graves' disease, diabetes associated with thyroidal dysfunction, euthyroid polynodular goiter, Schmidt and polyglandular syndromes and in the population. The antibodies were determined by ELISA. Polyclonal activation of the immune system was found in all abnormalities, except in polyglandular in children. The proportion of patients with more than one type of antibodies was minimal (26.4%) in IDDM and maximal (62.0%) in Graves' disease. Among IDDM patients, polyclonal activation of the immune system was observed more often in women than in men (48.5 vs 8.5%). The persistence of antibodies to fibroblasts in IDDM patients was associated with the development of vascular complications. The latter were observed in 4 of 7 patients who had these antibodies during a year and in none of negative patients. Thus, fibroblast antibodies may have a predicative significance for the development of late diabetic complications. The highest prevalence of these antibodies was discovered in Graves' disease (37.9%) wherein the antibodies may be involved in the development of exophthalmus and pretibial mixedema. Thyroidal dysfunction developed in all IDDM patients with ATMA preserved during a year and in none ATMA-negative patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Prostaglandin content in decidual tissue of women in spontaneous abortion]. / Soderzhanie prostaglandinov v detsidual'noi tkani zhenshchin pri samoproizvol'nom aborte.

Prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha were measured in decidual tissue of women after spontaneous abortions at pregnancy terms 8 to 10 weeks and after abortions induced by sulprostone, a synthetic prostaglandin E2 analog, at pregnancy term 4-5 weeks. Women in whom pregnancy was terminated surgically at relevant periods were controls. Prostaglandin E2 concentration was found to be 5 times higher and that of prostaglandin F2 alpha 40 times higher in women with spontaneous abortions than in surgical abortion. In sulprostone-induced abortion prostaglandin concentrations in decidual tissue were the same as in controls. These data indicate that a drastic increase of prostaglandin levels in spontaneous abortion is not only a result of myometrial contractions or decidual tissue rejection, but an important component in the chain of events leading to miscarriage.

[Contents of prostaglandins E2 and F2alpha and cAMP in the endometrium of women with habitual abortion during late pregnancy terms]. / Soderzhanie prostaglandinov E2 i F2 alfa i tsAMF v éndometrii zhenshchin, stradaiushchikh privychnym nevynashivaniem beremenosti pozdnikh srokov.

Measurements of prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha in the endometrium of 35 women of a reproductive age, suffering from habitual abortions in late pregnancy terms, have shown elevation of these prostaglandin levels in the secretory phase as against the reference group and their normal values during the proliferative phase. It is possible, that disordered prostaglandin synthesis in the endometrium, manifesting in pregnancy, is one of the causes of habitual abortions. cAMP levels were somewhat decreased in the secretory phase in this patient population; this permits a hypothesis on disorders in the adenylate cyclase system.

[Effects of surgical intervention and intravascular irradiation of blood with helium-neon laser on the state humoral autoimmunity in oncological patients]. / Vliianie khirurgicheskogo vmeshatel'stva v vnutrisosudistogo oblucheniia krovi gelii-neonovym lazerom na sostoianie gumoral'nogo autoimmuniteta u onkologicheskikh bol'nykh.

Humoral autoimmunity of patients with malignant gastrointestinal tumors was studied by different variants of enzyme immunoassay. In the preoperative period the frequency of detecting autoantibodies binding to DNA and components of external and internal membranes of cells of different tissues was not higher in patients (n-55) than in donors (n-45). Beginning from the 7th postoperative day all patients were found to have a significantly increased level of autoantibodies to DNA (p less than 0.01), fibroblasts (p less than 0.01), hepatocytes (p less than 0.01), islet cells (p less than 0.01), hepatic or pancreatic microsomes (p less than 0.05). There was a tendency towards normalization of these level by the 21st day in all cases. In patients (n-10) treated by blood intravascular laser irradiation after the operation the level of IgG (but not IgM) autoantibodies to DNA by the 14th postoperative day was significantly (p less than 0.01) higher than that in patients whose blood was not exposed to radiation. It is suggested that the discovered humoral immune reaction is a necessary component of wound immunity and develops in response to hetero-organic autoantigens which are unmasked in injury of the tissues during the operation. Laser therapy ensures a more intensive development of this reaction without altering its direction.

[Antibiotic sensitivity of El Tor Vibrio cholerae after exposure to various pesticides and mineral fertilizers]. / Antibiotikochuvstvitel'nost' kholernykh vibrionov El'-Tor, podvergnutykh vozdeistviiu nekotorykh pestitsidov i mineral'nykh udobranii.

The strains of El Tor Vibrio cholerae were exposed to different concentrations of pesticides (fazolone, treflane, prometrine, magnesium chlorate, omait and gardon) and mineral fertilizers (superphosphate, ammophos and carbamide) for 2 to 135 days. The subcultures of various ages were tested for their sensitivity to 16 antibiotics. The whole of 229 cultures were tested. There was a general tendency to lowering of the El Tor vibrio sensitivity to the majority of the antibiotics tested. The vibrio strains resistant to the antibiotics widely used in medical practice i. e. levomycetin, streptomycin, tetracycline, lincomycin, neomycin and kanamycin were isolated.

[Serovars of nonagglutinating vibrios isolated on the territory of the Uzbek SSR and their role in the development of acute intestinal diseases]. / O serovarakh neaggliutiniruiushchikhsia vobrionov, vydelennykh na territorii Uzbekskoi SSR, i ikh roli v razvitii ostrykh kishechnykh zabolevanii.

As the result of the serotyping of 1,223 NAG vibrio strains isolated in the Uzbek SSR from the environment and 659 strains isolated from gastroenteritis patients and from vibriocarriers, the serovars of 563 strains (46%) and 420 strains (63%), respectively, were determined. The prevailing serovars were 08, 06, 09, 014, 05, 039, 041, 013, 019 among the strains isolated from the environment and 08, 041, 037, 05, 039, 024, 06 among the strains isolated from humans. The strains belonging to serovars 05, 06, 08, 024, 037, 039, 041 were isolated both from the environment and from humans. The possible role of these strains in the development of acute gastroenteritis and in the formation of vibriocarriership in humans is pointed out.