[Rapid assay for the assessment of a potential of chemical biocides to microbial destructors of industrial materials].

A colorimetric rapid assay for estimating the biocide potential of various chemicals towards metal biocorrosive and petroleum product degrading microbes was developed based on the reducing potential of live microbial cell. A water-soluble organic redox indicator, blue in the oxidized form and pink in the reduced form, was used as an indicator of the reducing potential of microbial cells. Once added to a suspension of vital microbial cells, it was reduced and changed in color.

[Study of the integral toxicity of aqueous media, polluted by petroleum and petroleum products using bacterial tests].

A biotest kit was used to assess the integral toxicity level of aquatic medium contamination with petroleum and petroleum-based products. The integral toxicity dynamics was also monitored during biodegradation of petroleum and petroleum-based products by an association of petroleum-degrading strains including Acinetobacter sp., Mycobacterium flavescens, and Rhodococcus sp.

[Plant biotests of soil and water, polluted with petroleum and petroleum products].

Reactiona of higher plants (mustard, oat, rye, salad, dill and barley) and microalgae (Euglena gracilis) on the contamination of soil and water with petroleum and oil products was studied. The germination of seeds was analyzed. The length of sprouts, dry biomass and length of plant roots, as well as the optical density of micro-algal broth culture were determined.

[Microbiological degradation of asymmetrical dimethylhydrazine--a toxic component of rocket fuel].

A possibility of microbiological cleaning of water and soil polluted with asymmetric dimethylhydrazine (ADMH), a highly toxic rocket fuel ingredient (RFI), was studied. Several isolates (bacteria, yeast, and micromycetes) capable of utilizing ADMH as the only source of nitrogen, carbon, and energy were isolated from RFI-polluted tundra soil. Acceleration of RFI biodegradation was achieved using a biosorbent that involved cells of the degrader strain immobilized on granulated activated carbon.

[Examining interaction of phages with microorganisms by fluorometry and electro-orientation spectroscopy].

Bacterial sensitivity to different various phages was examined by electro-orientation spectroscopy, fluorometry, and electron microscopy. The strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia pestis, Mycobacterium smegmatis, and Xanthomonas campestris were used. The fluorescence intensity of a membranotropic agent in the ANS-cell-phage system was shown to depend on the interaction of a bacterial virus and a microorganism.

[Study of the interaction of MTPN11 mycobacteriophage with host cells based on electron microscopy, fluorimetry, and electro-oriented spectroscopy].

According to electron-microscopic data, various cells in the M. smegmatis ATCC607 population interact differently with phage MTPH11. Fluorometric studies of phage-host interactions were performed using a membranotropic fluorescent probe, 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonate (ANS).

[Effect of water pollution by oil and oil products on barrier functions of bacterial cell cytoplasmic membranes].

The effects of oil, diesel fuel, and kerosene on the electroorientational spectra and osmo-optical characteristics of bacterial cells were studied. Electroorientational spectra were found to be affected over the entire frequency range studied; changes in low-frequency (< 100 kHz) electroorientation were related to alterations in the cell surface, and those in high-frequency electroorientation, to the impairment of the barrier function of the plasma membrane. The membranotropic activity of petroleum products was also demonstrated by the osmo-optical method.

[Toxic effect of hydroxylated ions of heavy metals on the cytoplasmic membrane of bacterial cells].

The influence of nickel, copper, cadmium, and lead ions at concentrations of 50 to 100 microM on the barrier properties of the plasma membrane (PM) and the electrophoretic mobility (EPM) of Pseudomonas fluorescens 71, Escherichia coli K-12, and Mycobacterium phlei B-1291 VKM cells was studied at pH values from 5 to 9 by electro-orientational (EO) spectroscopy and microelectrophoresis of cells. According to the data of EO spectroscopy, the increase in the toxicity of heavy metal cations to cells corresponded to transition of cations to monovalent hydroxylated forms. Hydroxylated ions were found to more easily adsorb on, or penetrate across, the PM and to bind to competent proteins.

[Initial stages of interaction of temperate phage 04 with Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells].

The first steps of the interaction of the temperate pilus-dependent phage 04 with susceptible and 04-lysogenic cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were investigated. The 04-lysogenic cells retained their ability to adsorb viral particles on the pili. However, after the translocation to the cell surface, the bacteriophage failed to infect the immune microorganism.

[Comparative characterization of the physico-chemical properties of lipopolysaccharides of Yersinia pestis and R-mutants of enterobacteria].

Electrokinetic potentials (EKP) of the cells of R mutants of Escherichia coli and Salmonella minnesota and cells of Yersinia pestis strains EV (line NIIEG), 358/12 P-, TWJ, Java, and 231 (708) were determined, as well as EKP of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preparations isolated from these bacteria. The electric characteristics of the cell surfaces of the strains under investigation were demonstrated to correlate with the LPS charge and the reduction extent of their molecules. Acidic hydrolysis of LPS on the cell surface resulted in the leveling of the distinctions in EKP values (their reduction to the same level).

[Effect of cell wall polyphosphates on the sensitivity of the yeast Saccharomyces carlsbergensis to the damaging action of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide].

The effect of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on Saccharomyces carlsbergensis cells grown in orthophosphate-containing medium and on cells starved of phosphorus was studied by electroorientation spectroscopy. CTAB (20 microM) was found to substantially damage the plasma membrane (PM)) of cells grown in the presence of orthophosphate, while cells starved of phosphorus were damaged to a lesser extent. Biochemical analysis of the content of inorganic polyphosphate (poly(P(i))) in the cells, as study of their capacity to adsorb 9-aminoacridine, a fluorescent cationic dye, suggested that the different sensitivity of the plasma membrane to CTAB was due to differences in the content of polyanionic molecules of poly(P(i)) in the cell wall and consequent differences in its net negative charge.

[Electrokinetic potential of Yersinia pestis and Escherichia coli cells with an intact or defective ycaA gene (caf1M) of the fra-operon of plague pathogen].

The dependence of the amount of electrokinetic potential in cells of Escherichia coli and Yersinia pestis, which differ in the rate of reduction of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), on the presence or absence of typical and atypical capsules of Y. pestis, encoded by intact and mutant fra operons, respectively, was studied. The ycaA+ycaF+(caf1 M+caf1+) genotype was shown to be expressed in serological stability of a classical capsular antigen, irrespective of the producer strain, and a decrease in the negative charge of microbial cells compared to their noncapsular variants.

[Electrophysical analysis of Escherichia coli cell damage caused by silver ions].

The influence of Ag+ (0.5-10 microM) on Escherichia coli K-12 cells was studied by electrophoresis and electro-orientation spectroscopy methods. It was shown that the pH-dependency of the cell electrokinetic potential (phosphate-citrate buffer with ion strength 0.

[Influence of heavy metal ions on the electrophysical properties of Anacystis nidulans and Escherichia coli cells].

The influence of heavy metal ions (Ag+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Pb2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, Gd3+, 1 microM-1 mM) on Anacystis nidulans and Escherichia coli cells has been studied by means of electrophoresis and electro-orientation spectroscopy methods. It has been shown that changes of cell electrophoretic mobility (EM) and low-frequency (20 Hz) electro-orientation effect (EOE) observed with the increase of metal cation concentration characterize the adsorption of these ions on surface layers of cell envelopes. The degree and the character of these changes depend on cation valency and the initial value of cell EM.

[The use of electromyostimulation for preventing and treating hypodynamic disorders in gunshot injuries to the extremities].

It was found out during the study of multichannel electromyostimulation (EMS) influence upon human organism and the adequacy of its physical load to adoptive and compensative possibilities of cardiovascular system that that method was effective for prophylaxis of disorders and rehabilitation of nervous and muscular system, and locomotor apparatus after a short period of hypodynamia. The EMS increases the working capacity of nervous and muscular apparatus, mass of muscles and their contraction strength due to improvement of nervous and muscular conductivity and blood supply of the extremity. The efficiency of EMS decreases considerably when degenerative changes are taking place.

[Electrophysical analysis of the damage of Escherichia coli outer membrane].

The method of electro-orientational spectroscopy was used to study the damaging action of SDS and Triton X-100 on Escherichia coli cells in which the barrier properties of the outer membrane were impaired by treatment with Triton B (10(-2) M Tris-HCl buffer, pH 8.0) and a heat shock (47 degrees C, 15 min). When either SDS (10(-4)-2.

[Relation between the damaging effect of surface-active compounds on Escherichia coli cells and the phase of culture growth].

The techniques of cell electrophoresis and electro-orientation spectroscopy were used to study the effect of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) on Escherichia coli K-12 cells from the culture at the exponential and stationary growth phases. SDS (2 x 10(-4) M) considerably damaged cells at the exponential phase, particularly at pH less than 6.0, whereas cells at the stationary phase were damaged to a less degree and only at pH less than 5.

[Effect of surface-active agents on the electrical properties of bacterial cells].

The work was aimed at studying the effect of cationic, anionic and non-ionogenic surfactants on the frequency dependence of the electroorientation effect (EOE) and on the electrophoretic mobility (EPM) of rod-like bacteria. The character of concentration dependences was found to differ for EOE and EPM at a low frequency of the electric field (20 to 10(4) Hz). Analysis of EOE changes at a high frequency (4 X 10(5) to 3 X 10(7) Hz) showed that anionic and non-ionogenic surfactants at a concentration up to 10(-3) M did not damage Escherichia coli, a Gram-negative bacterium, in contrast to Bacillus cereus, a Gram-positive bacterium.

[Effect of dispersion of electric parameters of bacterial cells on their orientation in alternating electric fields].

On the basis of electrophysical model of bacterial cell frequency relationship of orienting force moment acting on it in the alternating electric field has been calculated. Dependence of relative value of the moment on electric and geometrical parameters of the model was calculated. It has been shown that the account of frequency dispersion of the electric parameters brings about a change in the course of frequency relationship of the orienting moment in the range of low and mean frequencies.