[Toxicological Evaluation of Intravenous Formulation of Rifapentine.]

Rifapentine belongs to the most potent antituberculosis drugs. Nevertheless, there are some limitations for its clinical use because of the low aqueous solubility and side effects. A technological approach to development of rifapentine intravenous formulation based on human serum albumin was described earlier and its efficacy against experimental tuberculosis was estimated. Toxicological evaluation of that water-compatible form of rifapentine revealed its low acute toxicity (LD50 340 mg/kg). Chronic toxicity tests of both the oral substance and the injectable formulation of rifapentine demonstrated similar adverse effects. However, in contrast to the conventional oral formulations, the intravenous formulation of rifapentine had no gastrointestinal toxic effects or cardiotoxicity, thus suggesting its usefulness for clinical application.

[Fortification of antimicrobial barrier of the small intestine in newborn mice after oral administration of ascorbigen].

Ascorbigen, a natural product, is an indole derivative of L-ascorbic acid. Its effect on postnatal development and antibacterial resistance of the small intestine was studied on newborn mice. Ascorbigen was administered to 3-5-day old mice in a dose of 100 mg/kg orally every day for 7-10 days. 30 minutes before the last administration of the drug clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus or Escherichia coli were administered intragastrically to the young mice. The animals were killed in 24 hours and the frequency of the isolation of the microbes from the blood, spleen, kidneys and liver was developed. The oral use of the drug normalized the intestinal microflora, provided a reliable decrease of the bacteria isolation from the blood, spleen, kidneys and liver and prevented the animal death. The morphological examination showed that ascorbigen significantly increased the number and activity of the Paneth cells in the gland crypts, the goblet cells in the villi and mononuclear cells in the selfplate of the intestine mucous membrane vs. the intact control.

Potential mutagenicity, embryotoxicity, and teratogenicity of calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate.

We studied mutagenic, embryotoxic, and teratogenic properties of calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate, a preparation proposed as a new drug. Long-term oral administration of calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate produced no mutagenic, embryotoxic, and teratogenic effects.

Allergic and immunotoxic effects of calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate.

We studied the allergic and immunotoxic effects of a new promising medicinal preparation calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate. Calcium ketopantoyl aminobutyrate produced no negative effects on general mechanisms of humoral and cellular immunity. This preparation did not modulate the anaphylactic reaction to bovine serum, exhibited no mitostatic and lymphotoxic properties, had no effect on the delayed-type hypersensitivity response, and did not produce active cutaneous anaphylactic reaction.

Effect of a novel antineoplastic drug olipifat on antitumor immunity in mice.

Olipifat is an antineoplastic drug containing pyrophosphate and a product of special lignin processing. Donor C57Bl/6J mice with syngeneic B16 melanoma received a single 5-day course of olipifat. Effect of olipifat on antitumor resistance was evaluated by local neutralization test [3]. In animals with rapid melanoma growth, splenic cells from intact donors stimulated tumor growth. Olipifat abolished this growth-stimulating effect of splenocytes. In animals with slow melanoma growth, splenocytes had no effect on the growth of melanoma or Lewis lung cancer. In this case, splenocytes from olipifat-treated donors completely arrested the growth of melanoma B16 and decelerated the growth of Lewis lung carcinoma.

[The preclinical assessment of the activity and pharmacological action of native human interleukin-2]. / Predklinicheskaia otsenka aktivnosti i farmakologicheskogo deistviia nativnogo interleikina-2 cheloveka.

It was demonstrated in in vivo and in vitro experiments that interleukin-2, obtained by cultivation of donor lymphocytes and purified by gel filtration, induces the production of mouse and human killer lymphocytes possessing high cytolytic activity against tumor cells. Interleukin-2 does not cause irreversible changes of the physiological and morphologic indices of vital activity in mice.

[Present-day goals and aims of the study of DNA levels in tumor cells]. / Tseli i zadachi issledovaniia soderzhaniia DNK v opukholevykh kletkakh na sovremennom étape.

Aims and tasks of the investigation of the DNA contents in tumour cells are discussed. It is supposed that DNA aneuploidia is a specific sign of malignant cells. Such supposition permits solving the problem of quantitative identification of malignant cells in the complex cell populations and determination of their quantity. Certain conditions necessary for solving this problem are considered.

[The influence of cyclophosphane and phenthyrine and their combination with zymosan and serotonin on the functional features distingusihing peritoneal macrophages in mice]. / Bliinie tsiklofosfana, fentirina i ikh kombinatsii a zimozanom i serotoninom na funktsional'nye osobennosti peritoneal'nykh makrofagov myshei.

Radiometric analysis into phagocytic activity of macrophages in intact and tumourous mice following introduction to them of phenthyrine and cyclophosphane showed the former to suppress to a greater extent the absorption function and the latter--that of digestion. A combined application of phenthyrine and cyclophosphane together with serotonin helps re-establish the microphages function in tumourous animals and to heighten the antineplastic activity of these compounds. Zymosan and its combination with phenthyrine and cyclophosphane do not produce any positive effect on the peritoneal cells.