Role of the kallikrein-kinin system of the kidneys in sodium and water transport and its modification by indomethacin

Direct correlation was found in intact rats between the kallikrein activity of the urine, on the one hand, and the diuresis, sodium excretion, and ability of the kidneys to concentrate the urine on the other hand. Small doses of indomethacin (2 mg/kg for 5 days) increased the kallikrein activity of the urine four-fold and, at the same time, increased the diuresis; large doses (5 mg/kg for 5 days) lowered the kallikrein activity of the urine and halved the diuresis, reduced the sodium excretion by two-thirds, and depressed the ability of the kidneys to concentrate the urine. Indomethacin may perhaps modify the synthesis not only of prostaglandins, but also of kallikrein, and this is reflected in the state of the kidney function.All-Union Cardiological Scientific Center, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR E. I. Chazor.) Translated from Byulleten' Éxperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 83, No. 4, pp. 399–400, April, 1977.     

Opioids and the heart]

The possible role of the opioid system in the cardiovascular function is an area that attracted significant attention in recent years. In order to clarify the possible role of opioids in cardiac regulation we have studied the myocardial effects of some opioids and their antagonists. Our results show that in vitro some opioids (dermorphin, alpha- and gamma-endorphins, dalargin and other) may exert inotropic, but not chronotropic, action and may act as modulatory agents on the cholinergic myocardial effects. Some of the opioidergic effects were blocked by naloxone and some were not. The results of pharmacological and physiological analysis show that opioidergic-cholinergic interaction may occur at the postsynaptic myocardial level via different mechanisms. It is well known that in vivo opioids play a significant role in shock and stress; sometimes they act as positive and sometimes--as a negative factor; the mechanisms of these effects are still not clear. We have shown that the endogenous opioid antagonist tetrapeptide FMRFa (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2) acted as a preservative agent to the acute hypobaric hypoxia and hemorrhagic shock, blood pressure and respiration and also the time of life. The efficacy of FMRFa was higher than that of naloxone. It was suggested that one of the possible mechanism of FMRFa preservative action was the increasing of sympathetic nervous system activity mediated by the endogenous opioid system inhibition.     

The morphological characteristics of dysplastic changes in the endometrium

Morphological characteristics of endometrial precancerous changes (dysplasia) are given with special reference to the degree and the direction of differentiation (endometrial, metaplastic). On the basis of these data the signs of endometrial carcinoma are standardized.     

X-ray converters for medical radioscopy

Spektr Scientific-Industrial Association, Moscow. Research Institute of Radioscopy, S. M. Kirov Tomsk Polytechnic Institute. Translated from Meditsinskaya Tekhnika, No. 1, pp. 3–7, January–February, 1989.     

Results of the electron microscopic diagnosis of human tumors (an analysis of 1000 cases)

A review of electron-microscopic diagnostic investigations made on biopsy specimens from 1000 patients showed the range of tumors requiring ultrastructural diagnosis to be fairly broad, encompassing virtually all major tumor sources including soft tissues (37% of the cases), epithelium (31.8%), hematopoietic organs (21.3%), pigment-forming tissues (4.9%), and bones (3.3%). The tissue and cellular origin of the tumor was identified, i.e. a differential diagnosis was correctly made and/or the histogenetic (cytogenetic) type of the tumor was established, in most (83.0%) of the cases, whereas the organ of tumor origin was identified in only 6.0%. Electron-microscopically, the histological diagnosis was confirmed in 45.3% of the cases, made more precise in 19.0%, and discarded in 5.1%; in 5.8%, electron microscopy confirmed as correct one of the diagnoses presumed on histologic grounds, while in 3.9% the diagnosis could not be verified because the tumors consisted of undifferentiated cells in their entirety. Historic material (formalin-fixed or from paraffin blocks) and stained histologic sections were used for the ultrastructural diagnoses.