THE INFLUENCE OF HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA AND CONCOMITANT STATIN THERAPY ON THE STATE OF PLATELET-PLASMA HEMOSTASIS IN PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION AND NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE.

The liver plays an important role in the development of atherogenic dyslipidemia, since changes in lipid metabolism begin at the hepatocyte level. Given the prevalence of dyslipidemias and their proven effect on the development of thrombotic cardiovascular complications in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), it is important to understand the role of platelets and hemostatic blood activity. Objective - to determine the state of platelet-plasma hemostasis in patients with essential hypertension, with concomitant non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Stress-induced aggression in heterozygous TPH2 mutant mice is associated with alterations in serotonin turnover and expression of 5-HT6 and AMPA subunit 2A receptors.

Background: The contribution of gene-environment interactions that lead to excessive aggression is poorly understood. Environmental stressors and mutations of the gene encoding tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH2) are known to influence aggression. For example, TPH2 null mutant mice (Tph2-/-) are naturally highly aggressive, while heterozygous mice (Tph2+/-) lack a behavioral phenotype and are considered endophenotypically normal.

Thiamine and benfotiamine prevent stress-induced suppression of hippocampal neurogenesis in mice exposed to predation without affecting brain thiamine diphosphate levels.

Thiamine is essential for normal brain function and its deficiency causes metabolic impairment, specific lesions, oxidative damage and reduced adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN). Thiamine precursors with increased bioavailability, especially benfotiamine, exert neuroprotective effects not only for thiamine deficiency (TD), but also in mouse models of neurodegeneration. As it is known that AHN is impaired by stress in rodents, we exposed C57BL6/J mice to predator stress for 5 consecutive nights and studied the proliferation (number of Ki67-positive cells) and survival (number of BrdU-positive cells) of newborn immature neurons in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus.

Thiamine and benfotiamine improve cognition and ameliorate GSK-3β-associated stress-induced behaviours in mice.

Thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in the brain has been implicated in the development of dementia and symptoms of depression. Indirect evidence suggests that thiamine may contribute to these pathologies by controlling the activities of glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β. While decreased GSK-3β activity appears to impair memory, increased GSK-3β activity is associated with the distressed/depressed state.

Effects of striatal transplantation of cells transfected with GDNF gene without pre- and pro-regions in mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Background: Previously, we have shown that transgenic cells bearing the GDNF gene with deleted pre- and pro-regions (mGDNF) can release transgenic GDNF. The medium conditioned by transgenic cells with mGDNF induced axonal growth in rat embryonic spinal ganglion in vitro. Here we demonstrate a neurotrophic effect of mGDNF on PC12 cells in vitro as well as its neuroprotective effect on dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta in vivo as indicated by improved motor coordination and sleep-wakefulness cycle in the MPTP mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Ultrasound of alternating frequencies and variable emotional impact evokes depressive syndrome in mice and rats.

Emotional stress is primarily triggered by the cognitive processing of negative input; it is regarded as a serious pathogenetic factor of depression that is challenging to model in animals. While available stress paradigms achieve considerable face and construct validity in modelling depressive disorders, broader use of naturalistic stressors instead of the more prevalent models with artificial challenges inducing physical discomfort or pain may substantially contribute to the development of novel antidepressants. Here, we investigated whether a 3-week exposure of Wistar rats and Balb/c mice to unpredictably alternating frequencies of ultrasound between the ranges of 20-25 and 25-45kHz, which are known to correspond with an emotionally negative and with a neutral emotional state, respectively, for small rodents in nature, can induce behavioural and molecular depressive-like changes.

[The effect of antitumor chemotherapy on the lipid spectrum of the erythrocyte membranes in lung cancer patients].

The lipid spectrum of erythrocyte membranes was studied by thin-layer and gas-liquid chromatography in patients with lung cancer in the process of antineoplastic cytostatic chemotherapy. The control group of examined subjects was formed of healthy volunteers. During a course of antineoplastic polychemotherapy according to the CAM scheme (cyclophosphan, adriamycin, methotrexate) disorders of the erythrocyte membrane lipid spectrum in patients with II-IV stage lung cancer remained or became still more manifest.

[Reversible erythrocyte aggregation in cancer patients].

Reversible aggregation of the peripheral blood erythrocytes was studied in patients with stages III-IV lung cancer and patients with stages II-III tumors of the head and neck (cancer of the tongue, larynx, and buccal mucosa). The parameters examined were as follows: U0 and Ud--minimal and maximal stability of aggregates, tau---red cell aggregation half-period, A--the amplitude of photometric signal (in mm) characterizing the count of erythrocytes, Ia--aggregation index, and K--integral coefficient. The findings indicate an appreciable intensification of reversible aggregation of red cells in cancer: a significant increase of U0, Ud, A, Ia, and K and decrease of tau.

[Functional characteristics of peripheral blood erythrocytes in cancer patients].

Cytophotometric (sulfhydryl groups and lipoproteins) and interferometric (dry mass) studies of the peripheral blood erythrocytes were carried out in 94 untreated patients with tumors of different localization (lung cancer, tumors of the head and neck, gastric cancer, and cancer of the large intestine). Control group consisted of healthy volunteers. The concentrations of sulfhydryl groups, lipoproteins, and mean values of dry mass of red cells of the patients with tumors were reliably lower than those in healthy controls.

[Surface architectonic of the peripheral red blood cells in cancer patients].

Scanning electron microscopy of the relief of the surface of peripheral red blood cells in patients with tumors of the head and neck (cancer of the tongue, larynx, and fundal buccal mucosa) of stages II-III and with stages III-IV lung cancer revealed similar changes, characterized by a manifest drop in the count of discocytes and increased share of transitional, prehemolytic, and degenerative forms of cells.