[The assessment of the ferritin level in gastroenterological diseases].

Blood serum ferritin levels were measured by indirect hemagglutination test in patients with diseases of the liver, bile duct, and gastrointestinal tract. Ferritin levels were found increased in the majority of patients, though to a different measure. Its concentrations were the highest in patients with virus hepatitis A, cirrhosis of the liver, and reactive nonspecific hepatitis, normalizing in the course of treatment, These data prompt the use of ferritin measurements in the diagnosis, monitoring the course of treatment, and prediction of the outcomes of acute and chronic diseases of the liver, bile duct, and gastrointestinal tract.

[A spectrophotometric method of determining the cytotoxic activity of HBsAg-sensitized lymphocytes].

The authors describe a modification of the method for measuring the cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes sensitized to HBsAg; this modification is based on spectrophotometry of the cytotoxic reaction products. The procedure consists in preliminary conjugation of target cells (native sheep red cells) with HBsAg with the use of chromium chloride, isolation of effector cells (lymphocytes) from the peripheral blood of viral hepatitis patients, co-incubation of effector cells with target cells, and spectrophotometric analysis of the incubation mixture supernatant. Optimal conditions have been selected for the conjugation of native sheep red cells with HBsAg with the use of CrCl3 and spectrophotometric analysis with orthophenylenediamine as chromogen.