Use-dependent inhibition of polymodal C-fiber cutaneous sensory units in cats by lidocaine and N-propylajmaline

Group for Biomechanics and Regulation of the Circulation, Institute of Experimental Cardiology, All-Union Cardiologic Scientific Center, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR V. N. Smirnov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 113, No. 3, pp. 248–250, March, 1992.     

Megakaryocyte colony-forming units in peripheral blood of patients with hyperlipoproteinemia

Megakaryocyte colony-forming units with high proliferative activity (6–7 mitoses) were detected in peripheral blood of patients with type IIa and IIb hyperlipoproteinemia. These cells are present in 30–40% patients, their occurrence being higher in patients with type IIb hyperlipoproteinemia. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 126, No. 8, pp. 221–224, August, 1998     

Effect of phagocyte stimulation on nonspecific organism's resistance to shock

Experiments on rats show a positive effect of prodigiosan phagocyte stimulation on humoral-cell interaction in the phagocytosis system in traumatic and burn shock accompanied by improvement of organism's resistance to extreme factors. Prodigiosan stimulation in the torpid phase against the background of altered phagocyte reactivity produced less pronounced and ambiguous effects. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 126, No. 11, pp. 548–551, November, 1998     

Variation in antiinfectious nonspecific resistance of the organism caused by cholinergic stimulation

Cholinergic stimulation (acetylcholine, aceclidine, armin) is found to improve antiinfectious nonspecific resistance in mice. The effect depends on the dose of cholinomimetic (armin), is maximal during the first 18 hours of the infectious process, and is determined by serum antibacterial activity, lysozyme activity, and the function of neutrophils and natural killers. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 120, N ^o . 8, pp. 164–166, August, 1995 Presented by Yu. A. Romanov, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

Relationships between factors of nonspecific resistance in shock caused by mechanical trauma or burn

Rats with shock caused by mechanical injury or burn showed stereotypic and phasic variations of the absorptive capacity of hepatic reticuloendothelial system, plasma fibronectin content, and functional activity of peripheral blood neutrophils. The direction of alterations in these factors of nonspecific resistance pointed to a depression of the phagocytic system and correlated with the severity of the postinsult states. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 123, No. 5, pp. 541–544, May, 1997     

Liver resistance to CCl4-induced injury after stimulation of macrophages with various preparations

Acute toxic hepatitis in male Wistar rats was produced by single injection of 40% CCl₄ (0.2 ml per 100 g body weight in oil). Pretreatment with various immunostimulators (bacterial polysaccharides prodigiozan and salmozan; yeast polysaccharides zymosan, peptidoglycan, and mannan; and hydrolytic enzyme egg lysozyme) produced a hepatoprotective effect correlating which the stimulatory influence on macrophages and increasing in the following order: mannan<peptidoglycan<zymosan<lysozyme<salmozan<prodigiozan. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 129, No. 6, pp. 620–622, June, 2000     

Effect of chlorophos (dipterex,trichlorphon) on high-threshold potassium and calcium channels of the neuronal membrane

The effect of chlorophos (dipterex, trichlorphon) on high-threshold potassium and calcium currents is studied on isolated snail neurons using the patch-clamp technique. Chlorophos (10–1000 μmol/liter) is found to reversibly lower the peak amplitude of a high-threshold potassium current by 30% on average and exerts two independent effects on a high-threshold calcium current: reversible lowering of the peak amplitude by 35% on average and, in 30% of cases, reversible inhibition of its activation, inactivation, and deactivation. this effect is abolished by adding diltiazem (a calcium channel antagonist) in a concentration of 100 μmol/liter to the medium. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 121, N ^o 1, pp. 59–62, January, 1996 Presented by Yu. A. Romanov, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

Effect of mechanical stimulation on vascularization of the wall of a large artery

Department of Human Anatomy and Central Research Laboratory, A. S. Bubnov Ivanovo State Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician V. V. Kupriyanov, Academy of Medical Sciences.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 113, No. 4, pp. 437–439, April, 1992.     

Subsynaptic units as a universal system-forming and regulating factor of brain synapses

Dense projections and postsynaptic density — specialized structures of the synaptic cytoskeleton — are regarded as a single functional system of subsynaptic units. From this viewpoint, interneuronal relations in health and after brain ischemia are analyzed. It is shown that hyperplasia and recombination of the system of subsynaptic units are the major mechanisms responsible for reorganization of functionally mature interneuronal junctions in the mammalian and human brain. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 124, No. 7, pp. 4–12, July, 1997     

Correlation of pain sensitivity and the humoral immune response in mice during thermal stimulation

A hypothesis about a correlation between threshold pain sensitivity and antibody production is proposed and experimentally validated. Immunodeficient mouse strains are characterized by a higher threshold sensitivity to pain than animals with a normal immune response. A highly reliable negative correlation between threshold sensitivity to pain assessed by the hot plate test and the number of antibody-producing cells in the spleen after immunization with sheep red cells is observed in 77% of (CBA×C57B1/6) F₁ mice examined. The negative correlation is observed both in spontaneous variations of threshold pain sensitivity and during an elevation of this threshold under the effect of preceding nociceptive stimulation. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 119, N ^o 4, pp. 405–408, April, 1995 Presented by R. V. Petrov, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

Inhibition of passive cutaneous anaphylaxis by dipeptides

The action of certain dipeptides (L-alanyl-histidine, L-alanyl-histidine, histidyl-leucine, and glycyl-L-histidine) and of histidine itself on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis was studied in guinea pigs. L-alanylhistidine (carnosine) and L-alanyl-histidine were found to inhibit passive cutaneous anaphylaxis. Histidyl-leucine, glycyl-histidine, and histidine had no inhibitory action on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis.Allergologic Research Laboratory, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 84, No. 10, pp. 460–462, October, 1977.     

Assessment of the gastrointestinal status by cutaneous electrogastrography

The processing of cutaneous electrogastrogram data by spectral analysis showed high-amplitude spectral activity in normal controls and a shorter high-amplitude period in patients with gastroduodenal ulcers and rectal cancer. In normal subjects and patients, the frequency and time analysis showed differences in the electrical reaction of the gastrointestinal tract after meals. These differences may be useful for noninvasive diagnosis. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 126, No. 11, pp. 597–600, November, 1998     

Mite allergen and allergoid stimulation of histamine secretion by mast cells

Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 116, N ^o 9, pp. 311–313, September, 1993     

A comparative study of cholinergic systems of the neocortex and hippocampus in rats with low and high resistance to hypoxia

Synaptic structures in the neocortex and hippocampus of the intact brain were compared between rats with low and high resistance to hypobaric hypoxia. Activities of choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, Na,K-ATPase, and the portion of protein in the light and heavy synaptosome fractions and subfractions were measured. A discrepancy in cholinergic metabolism molecular mechanisms between high and low resistance animals have been found in the heavy somatosoma fraction from the neocortex. Activities of choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholinesterase, and Na,K-ATPase in the synaptolemmal subfraction of low resistant rats were much lower than in high resistant rats. This implies a less effective synaptic transmission in proper cholinergic neurons in the low resistance animals and, therefore, specifically changed neuron functioning in the circulation control. No differences in the cholinergic components of either neocortical light synaptosome fraction or hippocampal light and heavy synaptosome fractions were found between low and high resistance rats. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii I Meditsiny, Vol. 125, No. 5, pp. 521–525, May, 1998     

Triploid origin of the gibel carp as revealed by 5S rDNA localization and chromosome painting

5S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) was isolated and sequenced from the gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio with 162 chromosomes and crucian carp Carassius auratus with 100 chromosomes, and fluorescent probes for chromosome localization were prepared to ascertain the ploidy origin and evolutionary relationship between the two species. Using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH), major 5S rDNA signals were localized to the short arms of three subtelocentric chromosomes in the gibel carp and to the short arms of two subtelocentrics in the crucian carp. In addition, some minor signals were detected on other chromosomes of both species. Simultaneously, six chromosomes were microdissected from the gibel carp metaphase spreads using glass needles, and the isolated chromosomes were amplified in vitro by degenerate oligonucleotide primed-polymerase chain reaction (DOP-PCR). Significantly, when the DOP-PCR-generated probes prepared from each single chromosome were hybridized, three same-sized chromosomes were painted in each gibel carp metaphase, whereas only two painted chromosomes were observed in each crucian carp metaphase spread. The data indicate that gibel carp is of triploid origin in comparison with diploid crucian carp.     

Criteria of individual and population-wide resistance to acute hypoxia

It is shown that the geometric mean of survival time and the deviation of σ from τ are measures of a population's resistance to acute hypoxia; that a measure of the individual resistance of an animal to such hypoxia is Student's parameter for that animal; that the distribution of Student's parameter in a population is a lognormal distribution under any conditions; and that the number of animals with low resistance is always equal to the number of highly resistant animals. The procedure described makes it possible to limit the number of animals used in an experiment by recording with the requisite accuracy the proposed measures of resistance to acute hypoxia at the population and individual levels. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 120, N ^o 9, pp. 239–241, September, 1995     

Use of multiple drug resistance modifiers to overcome tumor resistance to cytostatics in anin vivo system

Quinine and halidor, modifiers of multiple drug resistancein vitro, did not abolish tumor resistance to doxorubicinin vivo, as was shown in male hybrid BDF₁ mice with transplanted leukemia P 388 sensitive to doxorubicin and with induced resistance to it. Induced hyperglycemia did not lead to the manifestation of a therapeutic effect of doxorubicin in mice with leukemia P 388 sensitive to the antibiotic and with induced resistance to it. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 121, No. 4, pp. 459–461, April, 1996 Presented by Yu. N. Solov'ev Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences     

Month of birth and prevalence of atopic dermatitis in schoolchildren: Dry skin in early infancy as a possible etiologic factor

BACKGROUND: Month of birth has been shown to affect later development of allergic diseases. OBJECTIVE: We sought to evaluate the relationship between month of birth and the prevalence of atopic dermatitis (AD) in a large-scale general population of schoolchildren and to elucidate the possible mechanism for this relationship. METHODS: Questionnaire data on the prevalence of allergic diseases were obtained for 33,725 schoolchildren aged 7 to 15 years. In a separate study the water-holding capacity of "uninvolved" skin was compared for children with and without AD. RESULTS: We found striking differences in the prevalence of AD according to the month of birth (chi2 = 34.9, P <.0001). Overall, those born in autumn showed the highest (7.5%), and those born in spring showed the lowest (5.5%), prevalence of AD. There was little or no such tendency for the prevalence of bronchial asthma (chi2 = 17.2, P =.103) and allergic rhinitis (chi2 = 24, P =.01). We found no statistical variation across birth month in the ratio of AD with no other allergic disease/total AD, indicating that this deviation was observed whatever the allergic predisposition of the subjects. In a separate study a significantly lower water-holding capacity of uninvolved skin was observed in children with AD even from early infancy. CONCLUSION: These findings lead us to speculate that the climate in early infancy affects the skin condition and that those born in autumn have dry skin in early infancy, which may ultimately result in a higher prevalence of AD among young schoolchildren. This might be at least one of the "nonallergic" etiologic factors of this complex disease.     

Individual resistance of the organism and nerve cell to hypoxia

The correlation between the pattern of a neuron's reaction to acute hypoxia and individual resistance to oxygen deficit is studied on ratsin vivo as well as on surviving slices of their cerebellumin vitro. According to the survival time in a pressure chamber simulating an altitude of 11 km all the rats were divided into groups of high resistance, medium resistance, and low resistance to hypoxia. Survival time was 4.2 times longer in the high resistance group than in the low resistance group. In the cerebellar slices of high resistance animals 61.5% high-resistance neurons and 38.5% low-resistance neurons were recorded. On the other hand, in the high resistance animals the percentage of high-resistance neurons and low-resistance neurons was 31.2 and 68.8, respectively. The period of hypoxia development was 4.32 times longer in the high-resistance neurons as compared to low-resistance neurons. It is speculated that individual differences in the resistance to O₂ deficit are of a hereditary nature and manifest themselves not only on the level of the whole organism, but also in the individual nerve cell. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 118, N ^o 11, pp. 454–457, November, 1994