Simulation modelling of the postradiation restoration of the crypt-villus system

Basic principles have been developed for a discrete stochastic simulation model of an elementary proliferative unit of the intestinal epithelium, a "crypt-villus" system. The analysis of the results obtained after a single exposure of the animal's abdomen to 3 and 6 Gy radiation has demonstrated that the dynamics of the number of cells that synthesize DNA in a small intestine crypt of exposed mice depends on the rate of radiation damage repair (50 to 100 h following irradiation). The rate of repair after 6 Gy irradiation is 1.5 times lower that after 3 Gy. The changes in the shape of the labeled mitoses curve, followed up during the postirradiation recovery of the intestinal epithelium, may occur with the time parameters of the cell mitotic cycle being invariable.     

Ciprofloxacin in the prevention and treatment of surgical infections]

A clinico-laboratory study on ciprofloxacin made by Bayer (Germany) was applied to patients with extended posttraumatic wounds and performed with the aim of preventing postoperative purulent complications in patients operated on the organs of the gastrointestinal tract. In the both groups ciprofloxacin was administered orally in doses of 500 and 1000 mg and intravenously in a dose of 200 mg. The results of the assay on ciprofloxacin sensitivity of the isolates from the wound excretion and urine showed that they were more sensitive to ciprofloxacin than to aminoglycosides and cephalosporins. 15 minutes after the intravenous administration the serum concentration of ciprofloxacin amounted to 7.5 +/- 0.9 micrograms/ml and in 6 hours it was equal to 0.45 +/- 0.45 micrograms/ml, the mean concentrations of ciprofloxacin being attained in the bile (8.7 +/- +/- 3.9 micrograms/ml), gallbladder wall (5.5 +/- 3.8 micrograms/g), liver (0.73 micrograms/g), muscles (1.93 micrograms/g) and tendon (0.15 microgram/g). After the oral administration in a dose of 500 mg ciprofloxacin was detected in the blood serum in an amount of 2.0 +/- 0.7 micrograms/ml in 1 hour and in an amount of 0.9 +/- 0.13 micrograms/ml in 6 hours. After the drug oral administration in a dose of 1000 mg the maximum concentrations were: 6.34 +/- 4.2 micrograms/ml on the average and 2.1 +/- 0.8 micrograms/ml in 6 hours (0.4 micrograms/g in the muscles, 1.4 micrograms/g in the skin and 0.34 micrograms/g in the bones). The study showed that ciprofloxacin was a highly efficient antimicrobial agent in the treatment of the complicated wound infections and the prophylaxis of the purulent complications during the postoperative period in the patients operated on gastrointestinal organs.     

Effect of O-hydroxylamine on the transforming DNA from Bacillus subtilis. Correlation of chemical modifications with genetic consequences

The action of methoxyamine (MA) on B. subtilis transforming DNA (50 degrees C, pH 4,5 and 6,0, 1 M MA) was studied. The rate of cytosine residues modification in DNA is 250 times less than in monomer (rate constants for DNA are 1,5 X 10(-1) min-1 at pH 4,5, and 2,5 X 10(-6) min-1 in the first 300 hours of treatment at pH 6,0). At pH 4,5 the rates of cytosine (I) conversion into N4-methoxycytosine (II) and into 6-methoxyamino-5,6-dihydro-N4-methoxycytosine (III) are constant (II/III ratio is about 2,1). At pH 6,0 the II/III ratio smoothly increases from 1,0 to 1,6 (200 and 900 hours of treatment) due to a decrease in the product III accumulation rate. The frequency of MA-induced mutations shows a bell-shaped dependence on time with maxima (approximately 10%) at 80 (pH 4,5) and 500 (pH 6,0) hours of treatment. In both cases approximately 10% of cytosine residues are modified. These results suggest that either compound III is efficiently removed from the transforming DNA, or its presence does not arrest the DNA replication.     

Comparative Analysis of the Activity of the Polymorphic Variants of Human Uracil-DNA-Glycosylases SMUG1 and MBD4

Molecular Biology - The human N-glycosylases SMUG1 and MBD4 catalyze the removal of uracil residues from DNA resulting from cytosine deamination or replication errors. For polymorphic variants of...