Vol 161, No 5 (2016)

fMRI-EEG dynamics of brain activity in volunteers was studied during the course of EEG alpha-stimulation training (20 sessions). Twenty-three healthy men (20-35 years) were subjected to 3-fold mapping in a feedback loop (EEG alpha-rhythm biofeedback with acoustic reinforcement). This procedure was performed at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. During the first neurofeedback training session, deactivation (p<0.001) was found in the right angular gyrus, supramarginal, and superior temporal gyri, Brodmann area 39, and cerebellum. Activation (p<0.001) was observed in the medial frontal and cingulate gyri, motor areas of both hemispheres, and Brodmann area 32. During final (third) neurofeedback training session, we observed strong deactivation (p<0.05 with FDR) of zones responsible for spatial thinking and motor functions: left medial frontal and left medial temporal gyri; right postcentral, lingual, and superior frontal gyri; insula and right side of the cerebellum; and precuneus and cuneus (Brodmann areas 6, 9, 7, 31, 8, 13, and 22). Changes in the alpha wave power were most pronounced in the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex of the left hemisphere (Brodmann areas 2L and 5L).

Circadian peculiarities of HR regulation and functional capacities of the heart in WAG/Rij rats with genetically determined absence epilepsy are related to spike-wave activity of the brain. The number of spike-wave discharges (SWD) is maximum at night, early morning, and evening time and decreases to minimum at 08.00-16.00. At night, functional capacities of the heart are reduced and stress test at night induces ischemic changes in the myocardium at a lower functional load than in the daytime (low level of SWD activity). The decrease in the number of SWD and spike-wave index during the daytime contributes to the central mechanisms of autonomic regulation of the heart. However, these capacities are reduced against the background of increased seizure activity during nighttime.

We studied the effect of audiovisual stimulation training course on physical development, functional state of the cardiovascular system, blood biochemical parameters, and hormonal status of athletes. The training course led to improvement of physical performance and adaptive capacities of the circulatory system, increase in plasma levels of total protein, albumin, and glucose and total antioxidant activity, and decrease in triglyceride, lipase, total bilirubin, calcium, and phosphorus. The concentration of hormones (cortisol, thyrotropin, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine) also decreased under these conditions. In the control group, an increase in the concentration of creatinine and uric acid and a tendency toward elevation of lowdensity lipoproteins and total antioxidant activity were observed in the absence of changes in cardiac function and physical performance; calcium and phosphorus concentrations reduced. The improvement in functional state in athletes was mainly associated with intensification of anabolic processes and suppression of catabolic reactions after audiovisual stimulation (in comparison with the control). Stimulation was followed by an increase in the number of correlations between biochemical and hormonal changes and physical performance of athletes, which attested to better integration of processes at the intersystem level.

We studied substrate specificity of Na⁺,Cl^–(HCO₃^–)-ATPase. In most cases, replacement of ATP for other phosphate-containing substances resulted in not only pronounced suppression of phosphohydrolase reactions, but also dramatic changes of their responsiveness to the stimulating effect of monovalent ions. The data showed that Na⁺,Cl^–(HCO₃^–)-ATPase is a highly specific enzyme for ATP.

The therapeutic effect of doxazosin (40 μg/kg/day over one month) on urinary bladder was examined in female rats with modeled chronic infravesical obstruction (IVO) produced by graduated mechanical constriction of the proximal urethral segment. In one month, IVO induced a pronounced vesical hypertrophy both in treated and untreated rats that manifested in increased bladder weight and capacity, the latter increment being pronouncedly greater in treated rats. In untreated IVO rats, infusion cystometry revealed elevated basal intravesical pressure of void bladder P₀, markedly increased maximal (premicturitional) pressure P_max, and increased amplitude of spontaneous oscillations of intravesical pressure ΔP_det in filled bladder. Doxazosin produced no significant effect on P_max rise during IVO, but prevented elevation of P₀ and increment of ΔP_det in filled bladder. During gradual filling of urinary bladder in control (intact) rats, the parasympathetic vesical influences increased progressively, while in untreated IVO rats, the adrenergic influences prevailed even at maximal filling of the bladder. In IVO rats, doxazosin prevented the bias of the sympathetic–parasympathetic balance in the filled bladder in favor of sympathetic influences, but did not prevent this bias in a void bladder. It is hypothesized that α-adrenoblockers improve micturition during IVO caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia not only by decreasing the urethral resistance to urine flow due to down-regulation of prostate smooth muscle tone, but also by a direct action of these blockers on detrusor adrenergic receptors and central structures involved in urinary bladder control.

We compared the intensity of apoptosis in the peri-infarction area of the brain after isolated and combined exposure to hypoxia and hypercapnia prior to focal ischemic stroke modeling. Hypoxia and hypercapnia reduced the number of TUNEL-positive cells in the peri-infarction area, and their combination was most effective in comparison with effects of isolated exposures. The maximum neuroprotective effect of combined exposure to hypoxia and hypercapnia in comparison with isolated exposures was determined by inhibition of apoptosis in the peri-infarction zone.

We studied the effect of exposure to helium-neon laser (dose range 0.16-50 mJ/cm²) on activation of natural protection reserve in mice using the adaptive response test. DNA comets method revealed a protective response manifested in DNA damage level in whole blood leukocytes of mice and in lymphoid organs by the thymus and spleen weight index; preexposure to laser did not induce the adaptive response. ROS level in the whole blood was assessed by the level of zymosan-induced luminol chemiluminescence. In mice subjected to adaptive laser irradiation in doses of 0.16-5 mJ/cm² followed by X-ray irradiation in a dose of 1.5 Gy, the activation index calculated as the ratio of induced to spontaneous area of luminescence was by 1.4 times lower than that in non-irradiated animals, which attested to reduced ROSgeneration reserve capacity of neutrophils.

A screening study of biological activity of native humic acids isolated from peat was performed; several physical and chemical parameters of their structures were studied by UV- and infrared spectroscopy. Spectroscopy yielded similar shape of light absorption curves of humic acids of different origin, which can reflect similarity of general structural principles of these substances. Alkaline humic acids have more developed system of polyconjugation, while molecular structures of pyrophosphate humic acids were characterized by higher aromaticity and condensation indexes. Biological activity of the studied humic acids was assessed by NO-stimulating capacity during their culturing with murine peritoneal macrophages in a wide concentration range. It was shown that due to dose-dependent enhancement of NO production humic acids can change the functional state of macrophages towards development of pro-inflammatory properties. These changes were associated with high activity of humic acids isolated by pyrophosphate extraction, which allows considering effects of isolation method on biological activity.

Titanium and polypropylene mesh endoprostheses were implanted into the rat abdominal cavity and the populations of cells migrating to their surface were analyzed. On both materials, the cells were presented mainly by macrophages that proliferated, activated, and fused to form multinuclear cells. Contact with the foreign surface triggered superoxide anion generation and myeloperoxidase synthesis by macrophages (these processes were more intense on polypropylene implants than on titanium ones) and stimulated production of nitric oxide by macrophage. It was hypothesized that the effects of free nitrogen and oxygen radicals lead to oxidation and destruction of the polypropylene endoprosthesis surface.

Total RNA from the bone marrow of healthy donor rats was injected to experimental rats 6 h, 2 h, or 30 min prior to a single γ-irradiation in the sublethal dose of 6 Gy. Injection total RNA 30 min prior to the exposure most effectively restored erythropoiesis in experimental animals. In 5 days, reticulocyte count in these animals 30-fold surpassed the control (injection of 0.9% NaCl). In 12 days, the content of new erythroblastic islands in the bone marrow in rats injected with the total RNA 2 h or 30 min prior to irradiation increased significantly and erythropoiesis recovery activation was observed.

Transcription activity of NF-κB in sensory neurons was analyzed in vitro using classical immunocytochemical methods and transgenic technologies. Activation of NF-κB in NIH3T3 cells and in murine sensory neurons after in vitro stimulation with TNF-α was demonstrated by the immunocytochemical method; however, the expression of the reporter NF-κB/LacZ transgene was detected only after addition of histon deacetylase inhibitor. Hence, formally contradictory conclusions from the results of immunocytochemical analysis and reporter transgene expression were in line with the hypothesis on epigenetic repression of NF-κB activity in sensory neurons mediated by histon deacetylases.

Spatial memory was studied in 2-month-old offspring of rats subjected to different types of experimental preeclampsia (replacement of drinking water with 1.8% NaCl from day 1 to 21 of gestation or intraperitoneal administration of non-selective NO-synthase inhibitor L-NAME to pregnant rats in a daily dose of 25 mg/kg for 7 days on gestation days 14-20). Spatial memory was evaluated in an elevated 8-arm radial maze. Both types of experimental preeclampsia impaired spatial (long-term and short-term) memory and can be used in the development of drugs correcting negative effects of this pregnancy complication on memory.

We analyzed changes in angiotensin-converting enzyme activity in the aorta of hypertensive SHR rats against the background of age-related BP increase (from week 7 to 14) and the effect of dihydroquercetin on BP rise and angiotensin-converting enzyme activity. Normotensive WKY rats of the same age were used as the control. BP and activity of angiotensin-converting enzyme in the aorta of SHR rats increased with age. Dihydroquercetin in doses of 100 and 300 μg/kg per day had no effect on the increase of these parameters; dihydroquercetin administered to 14-week-old WKY rats in a dose of 300 μg/kg reduced activity of the angiotensin-converting enzyme. Thus, the early (7-14 weeks) increase in BP and angiotensin-converting enzyme activity in the aorta of SHR rats was not modified by flavonoids (dihydroquercetin) in contrast to other rat strains and humans, which is indicative of specificity of hypertension mechanism in SHR rats.

Course treatment with IFN-α2b immobilized on polyethylene glycol stimulates phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages and neutrophils, enhances humoral immune response in CBA/CaLac mice, stimulates IL-4 synthesis, and suppresses IFN-γ production by mitogenstimulated splenocytes from experimental animals.

For the development of methods of additional differential diagnostics of gliomas of various grades of malignancy and gliomas and local inflammatory processes in the CNS we studied the intensity of aggregation of peripheral blood cells under the influence of channel blockers ketamine and verapamil. In in vitro experiments, verapamil and ketamine in various dilutions (from 10 to 100,000 times) were added to blood samples and the effects of these dilutions on the intensity of blood aggregation in patients with gliomas of different degree of malignancy, traumatic brain injuries, and other types of neurosurgical pathologies were studied. A correlation was revealed between the decrease in surface charge of blood cells and the type of neurosurgical pathology. The use of functional properties of potential-dependent inotropic NMDA receptors and calcium channels allowed indirect estimation of their activity via parameters of blood cell aggregation induced by channel blockers ketamine and verapamil.

We synthesized a fluorescence conjugate and modified magnetite-gold nanoparticles carrying prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as the ligand. Analysis of their binding to human prostate cancer cell lines PC-3 (PSMA^–) and LNCaP (PSMA⁺) showed selective interaction of the synthesized conjugate and modified nanoparticles with LNCaP cells. These findings suggest that these nanoparticles can be used in tissue-specific magnetic-resonance imaging.

Experimental study of a new paramagnetic complex Mn-DCTA is carried out. The complex (0.5 M manganese(II) solution with trans-1,2-diamine cyclohexane-N,N,N’,N’-tetraacetic acid; Cyclomang) was used for contrast magnetic resonance imaging visualization of CNS involvement in dogs with severe forms of Babesia canis infection. CNS injuries were visualized in all cases, with highly intense contrasting at the expense of Mn-DCTA accumulation at the periphery of the damaged zone. Quantitative evaluation of the paramagnetic accumulation in the focus showed that the amplification index wa s 1.19±0.11 for the central areas and 1.47±0.17 for the peripheral ones. The pituitary (1.18±0.05) and vascular plexuses of the lateral ventricles (1.12±0.09) were also contrasted. Injection of the paramagnetic to dogs was not associated with any kinds of pathological or physiological reactions. Mn-DCTA complex allowed contrast visualization of the focal injuries to the CNS and could be regarded as a paramagnetic contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging of brain injuries in dogs.

Treatment of CBA mice predisposed to cancer with a complex phytoadaptogen in the therapeutic and preventive modes led to the appearance of moderate and low-differentiation hepato-cellular carcinomas infiltrated by leukocytes. Destructive signs were detected in tumor tissue.