Effect of medicinal leeches' antigens on the proliferative response of human blood mononuclear cells and cytokine production in vitro.

Unlabelled: The purpose of research is to study the influence of plant mitogens and antigens of the water-salt extract from the bodies of Hirudo verbana, H. medicinalis, H. orientalis on the reaction of lymphocyte blast-transformation and the synthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-8, TNF-α) in patients' cell culture supernatants before and after hirudotherapy.

Basic morphofunctional features of pharmaceutic leech (Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820) tissues in various forms of response after hirudotherapeutic procedures.

It is analyzed morphofunctional features of Hirudo verbana tissues on histological sections in order to determine the possible causes of their partial death after hirudotherapeutic procedure. In the study was taken 4 groups of leeches: hungry (control), healthy well-fed, well-fed that vomited blood and well-fed dead. Morphofunctional changes in midgut of healthy well-fed H.