[Prospects for the use of plant polysaccharides in complex treatment of malignant tumors].

The pharmacological properties of plant polysaccharides are reviewed and original experimental data on the properties of water-soluble polysaccharides isolated from Acorus calamus L. are presented. The possibility of using plant (in particular, Acorus calamus) polysaccharides to increase the effectiveness of anticancer treatment of transferred tumors and to reduce the toxic effects of cytostatic treatment on the normal cells of blood, liver, and epithelium of thin intestine in experimental animals has been demonstrated.

[Experimental investigation of antiinflammatory and anesthetic properties of calcium pectate].

Antiinflammatory (antiexudative, antiproliferative) activity of calcium pectate was revealed by tests on the mice leg carrageenan-induced edema and cotton-ball granuloma models. It was also established that this polysaccharide produced an anesthetic effect comparable with that of indomethacin on the model of acetate-induced convulsions in mice.

[Anti-ulcerative effect of non-starch polysaccharides].

Standard models of experimental ulceration (of neurogenic origin, H. Shay ulcer, indomethacine-, ethanol-, prednisolone-, histamine- and acetate-induced ulcers) were used to demonstrate protective effect of non-starch polysaccharides (potassium alginate, potassium pectate, low-esterified pectin). Potassium pectate proved to be the most efficacious protector. Mechanism of its anti-ulcerative action is attributable to antacidic, cytoprotective, and reparative activity. It appeals to optimally stimulate the motor-evacuation function and, besides, exhibits marked anti-inflammatory activity.

[Antiulcer effect of calcium pectate on model of chronic gastric ulcer in rats].

Calcium pectate has been found to exhibit an antiulcer activity in rats with model of chronic ulcers. Course treatment of the experimental animals with calcium pectate (i) accelerated the repair of experimental damage due to better integrity and higher secretory activity of epithelium and (ii) decreased hemodynamic disorders in surrounding mucous and epithelial membranes. The maximum effect, which was achieved with calcium pectate in a dose of 50 mg/kg, exceeded the action of the reference drug maalox on both 14th and 21st days of experiment.

[Experimental evaluation of the antiulcer activity of calcium pectate].

Both chronic (prophylactic) and single administration of standardized calcium pectate considerably increased the resistance of rat stomach mucous membrane with respect to ulcerogenic factors of various etiology, including immobilized stress, indomethacin, ethanol, prednizolone, and histamine, according to H. Shay's model. The gastroprotective effect of this polysaccharide was comparable with or exceeded the action of famotidine, sea buckthorn oil, and maalox.

[Seasonal features of the effect of adaptogens on sex behavior of experimental animals]. / Sezonnye osobennosti vliianiia adaptogenov na polovoe povedenie éksperimental'nykh zhivotnykh.

Seasonal variation of the aphrodiatical activity of pantocrin (deer antler extract), ginseng root tincture, and eleuterococcus extract was studied. It was found that a one-month treatment with these adaptogen preparations in a daily dose of 100 mg/kg (for dry parent substance) stimulate the sexual behavior of puberal mice and rat males in winter. The maximum effect was observed for pantocrin. In summer months, the stimulating effect of adaptogens was not manifested. The reference drug (tentex forte) increased the sexual behavior irrespective of the season, the effect being more pronounced in summer months. These results are explained by assuming that the adaptogens studied possess a weak gonadotropic activity, which favors normalization of the testosterone level (reduced in winter season) in experimental animals.

[Clinical and laboratory evaluation of efficiency of pectin supplements in patients with chronic renal failure]. / Kliniko-laboratornaia otsenka effektivnosti ispol'zovaniia pektina u bol'nykh s khronicheskoi pochechnoi nedostatochnost'iu.

The influence of the pectin biologically active supplements (BAS) on some clinical and laboratory parameters was studied in 66 patients with chronic renal failure. The results of the investigations have evidenced that the studied BAS promotes a regress of clinical signs and elimination of uremic toxicants.

[Effectiveness of dietary non-starch polysaccharides in experimental toxic hepatitis]. / Effektivnost' pishchevykh nekrakhmal'nykh polisakharidov pri éksperimental'nom toksicheskom gepatite.

The efficiency of some polysaccharides was investigated in mice with an experimental toxic hepatitis. Hepatitis was induced by the oral administration of 10% solution CCl4 in olive oil at a dosage of 3 ml/kg body weight every day during 7 days. After that tested substances were administrated every day 30-40 min before a feeding at a dosage of 150 mg/kg body weight during 14-21 days. Results showed that a calcium alginate, two low-methoxyl pectins (one with the degree of esterification about 50% and other with the degree of esterification less 5%), fucoidan, and chitozan, but not lambda-carrageenan and kappa-carrageenan, have beneficial affects on liver total lipid, glycogen, malondialdehyde, and diene conjugates as well as on blood total lipid and alanine aminotransferase activity in animals with experimental toxic hepatitis.

[Methods of in vitro assessment of the degree of complement activation by the classical pathway]. / Metodika opredeleniia in vitro stepeni aktivirovaniia komplementa po klassicheskomu puti.

A sensitive a simple method is proposed for assessing the complement activation degree by the monospecific classical route. The alternative pathway of the complement activation proposed by Adachi et al. in 1990 is taken account of. The specific features of the proposed method are 1) use of commercial dry complement of guinea pigs with the regulatory protein defect needed for the alternative pathway of complement activation; 2) absence of EGTA in GVB and presence of Ca2+; 3) use of sensitized sheep red blood cells as the target cells. These conditions prevent the alternative pathway of complement activation and permit only the classical pathway. Effects of some drugs on the classical pathway of complement activation by the new method and on Adachi's alternative method are investigated. Estradurin and fosfestrol affect the complement activation by both pathways.

[Peptidergic and monoaminergic innervation of the gonads in the holothurian Cucumaria japonica]. / Peptidergicheskaia i monoaminergicheskaia innervatsiia goloturii Cucumaria japonica.

In the holothurian gonad structure of the peptidergic and monoaminergic systems has been described. Axons of their cells form tissue and hemal terminals. Epithelial cells and smooth myocytes of the gonadal wall get direct innervation, having contacts with the axonal terminals that are separated by the cleft 50-75 nm in the diameter. It is possible that neuropeptides and biogenic monoamines are transported to the germ and follicular cells of the germinative gonadal zone via hemolymph of the hemal sinus.