Behavioral and electrophysiologic characteristics of a peptide analog of piracetam--L-pyroglutamyl-D-alanine amide

The effect of L-pyroglutamyl-L-alanine amide, a structural analog of nootropil, was studied in the passive and active conditioned avoidance tests in rats. The compound (1 mg/kg, i. p.) was shown to be able to improve the performance in the shuttle-box. This effect is selective because it is not followed by psychomotor stimulation. In experiments on undertrained animals in passive avoidance test the compound reveals its positive amnestic effect with its administration prior to, immediately after learning and prior to testing. This provides the evidence that the dipeptide activates all the phases of memory formation. The compound raises the amplitude of transcallosal responses in temporal associative area and S-1 and increases facilitation phase in the recovery cycle, being inactive in respect to primary somatosensory evoked responses in S-1. All the data obtained suggest the nootropil-like effect of the dipeptide. The analysis of the dipeptide by MR-spectrometry reveals its stability in the presence of serum or enterocyte enzymes.     

Silver-Containing Humic Substance-Based Nanocomposites—Agents for Healing of Potatoes from the Ring Rot

The influence of silver-containing humic substance (HS)-based nanocomposites (NCs) obtained from mud, shale, and coals of three kinds of deposits in Mongolia on the viability and ability to biofilm formation of a phytopathogenic gram-positive bacterium Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus (Cms), as well as peroxidase activity and potato plant growth in vitro, has been investigated. The maximum reduction of the viability of bacterial cells was found in the case of incubation with HS-mu/Ag NC and HS-coal/Ag NC. It was found that HSs, including HS-mu and HS-sl, and NCs synthesized on the base of these HSs, HS-mud/Ag NC and HS-sl/Ag NC reduce more than twofold the activity of peroxidase in potato tissues. It was also found that HS-co and HS-coal/Ag NC stimulate the potato peroxidase activity, as well as biofilm formation of Cms bacterium. No negative effect of the studied NCs on the growth of potato has been revealed. Moreover, NC HS-mud/Ag based on mud had a stimulating effect on leaf formation in plants.     

Seed dormancy release and germination characteristics of <i>Corispermum lehmannianum</i> Bunge,an endemic species in the Gurbantunggut desert of China

Seed dormancy release and germination of Corispermum lehmannianum Bunge were tested using various treatments: temperature, cold stratification, gibberelins (GA3), dry storage and sand burial. Results showed that temperature and light did not affect the germination of fresh seeds, cold stratification and GA3 could improve seed germination, whereas dry storage and sand burial did not. The germination percentage was highest at 35/20 °C after the cold stratification and GA3 treatments. Corispermum lehmannianum seeds were classified as non-deep, Type-2, physiological dormancy (PD), whose seed dormancy could be released by cold stratification and GA3.     

Morphogenetic approach to estimation of health of environment: Study of developmental stability

The study of the developmental stability in natural populations is a promising direction of population developmental biology, which opens new possibilities for estimation of the nature of the observed phenotypic diversity and understanding the mechanisms of population dynamics and microevolutionary transformations. This direction of the studies allows one to approach the estimation of the condition of natural populations. A special analysis of possible changes in the developmental stability indicators under different anthropogenic effects allows one to characterize this approach as one of the main within the methodology of the health of environment estimation based on the organism condition characteristics by the developmental homeostasis. The approach seems promising for the estimation and monitoring of the condition of natural populations of different species as well as for the environmental quality estimation.     

Identification of the hereditary variants of skin melanoma

The identification of hereditary variants of cutaneous melanoma and analysis of the role of hereditary factors and syndromes predisposing to cutaneous melanoma were carried out. The involvement of individual nevus phenotypes in the development of this disease was determined. Based on a survey of recent molecular biological data and our studies, the etiological and genetic heterogeneity of cutaneous melanoma is reported. In relatives of patients with cutaneous melanoma and persons with multiple pigmented nevi, the malignant tumors proved to be differentiated in the direction of the neural crist tissues and/or derivatives of cutaneous mesenchyma. Based on the evidence obtained, the approaches have been developed to formation of risk groups for the purpose of early diagnostics of cutaneous melanoma.     

ACTN3 GENOTYPE IS ASSOCIATED WITH TESTOSTERONE LEVELS OF ATHLETES

α-Actinin-3 (ACTN3) has been proposed to regulate skeletal muscle differentiation and hypertrophy through its interaction with the signalling protein calcineurin. Since the inhibition of calcineurin potentiates the production of testosterone, we hypothesized that α-actinin-3 deficiency (predicted from the ACTN3 XX genotype) may influence serum levels of testosterone of athletes. Objective: To investigate the association of ACTN3 gene R577X polymorphism with resting testosterone levels in athletes. Methods: A total of 209 elite Russian athletes from different sports (119 males, 90 females) were genotyped for ACTN3 gene R577X polymorphism by real-time PCR. Resting testosterone was examined in serum of athletes using enzyme immunoassay. Results: The mean testosterone levels were significantly higher in both males and females with the ACTN3 R allele than in XX homozygotes (males: RR: 24.9 (5.7), RX: 21.8 (5.5), XX: 18.6 (4.9) ng · mL^-1, P = 0.0071; females: RR: 1.43 (0.6), RX: 1.21 (0.71), XX: 0.79 (0.66) ng · mL^-1, P = 0.0167). Conclusions: We found that the ACTN3 R allele was associated with high levels of testosterone in athletes, and this may explain, in part, the association between the ACTN3 RR genotype, skeletal muscle hypertrophy and power athlete status.     

Endocrine cells of the gastric mucosa in patients with duodenal ulcer after vagotomy]

Bioptates of the stomach mucous membrane (SMM) have been investigated in 169 patients suffering from duodenal ulcer (DU). According to the nocturnal gastric secretion test among them there are "hypersecretors" and persons with moderate elevation of acid formation. In conformity with the efficiency of the operative treatment among the patients examined, groups are defined: those with recurrent disease and those recovered after vagotomy. The DU endocrine apparatus undergoes both qualitative and quantitative alterations after vagotomy. When recovery after vagotomy takes place, the number of endocrine cells only slightly exceeds these parameters in the patients with a moderately manifested acid production. These alterations are adaptive. The recurrence of DU in patients with moderately manifested acid production before the operation can be explained by hyperplasia of G-cells. A high degree of hyperplasia of all elements of the endocrine apparatus in the "hypersecretors" can be one of the causes of the DU recurrence. The data about the state of G-, Ec- and EcL-cells before and after vagotomy can be used at prognostication the results of surgical treatment of patients with DU.     

Sodium oxybutyrate and piracetam acceleration of the compensatory-reparative processes after damage to the cerebral cortex in rats

The effects of sodium hydroxybutyrate and piracetam on compensatory-reparative processes in the central nervous system have been investigated in rats after extirpation of the frontal cortex. The animals were pretrained to conditioned reflex of active avoidance. Extirpation of the frontal cortex has been shown to disturb the conditioned reflex. Sodium hydroxybutyrate (50 mg/kg) and piracetam (200 mg/kg) were found to precipitate the recovery of the damaged reflexes.     

Mitochondrial Heteroplasmy in Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus Pallas, 1771)

Russian Journal of Genetics - The population features of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of P. ridibundus Pallas, 1771 and related species of green frogs from Nizhny Novgorod and Sverdlovsk...