Marine fungi in sediments of the Sea of Japan (Russian territory) and their biologically active metabolites

The most abundant marine fungi encountered in various regions of the Sea of Japan belong to the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus, Wardomyces, Trichoderma, Chrysosporium, and Chaetomium. Facultative marine fungi of the genera Scytalidium, Verticillium, and Oidiodendron and obligate marine fungi of the genus Dendryphiella are much less abundant. The composition of marine sediments and the anthropogenic load on them were found to influence the abundance and species diversity of fungi, as well as the occurrence of fungal strains producing hemolytically active substances. The biodiversity of mycobiota and the abundance of hemotoxin-producing fungi in marine sediments may be used to evaluate the anthropogenic load on marine biocenoses. Hemolytic compounds were produced by 57% of the fungi isolated from marine sediments. The hemolytic activity of Chaetomium spiculipilium was revealed in the fraction of the culture liquid containing extracellular fatty acids and pigments. The fatty acid composition of this marine fungus was determined.     

Marine fungus Stilbella aciculosa as a potential producer of prostaglandins

The amount and composition of fatty acids in the fungus Stilbella aciculosa associated with the marine macroorganism Apostichopus japonica (trepang) were determined by gas-liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In the culture liquid of S. aciculosa, prostaglandins (PG) of groups E and F were revealed by UV spectroscopy. This finding was confirmed by the presence of direct precursors of PG, polyunsaturated eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids, in the culture liquid. The biomass of this fungus contained PG of group B.     

Adaptive response of blood lymphocytes of the inhabitants of the South Ural chronically exposed to radiation

The inhabitants of Techa river villages exposed to injured radiation action and inhabitants of uncontaminated regions were examined by micronuclei (MN) assay. The initial damage of blood lymphocytes, the role of radiation in the induction of sensitivity to the acute irradiation and the ability to form the adaptive response were evaluated. It was shown that the initial level of damaged lymphocytes in the inhabitants of the contaminated area did not differ significantly from the spontaneous level. But in these people the sensitivity to acute irradiation was decreased. The ability to develop the adaptive response was decreased too. It was suggested that the radiation plays the main role in the development of radiosensitivity and adaptive response in chronically irradiated people.     

Adaptive response of blood lymphocytes as a marker of hemopoiesis status in exposed persons

An obvious correlation between the type of reaction manifested by peripheral blood lymphocytes to low dose irradiation in vitro (adaptive potential), the RBM cell composition (during the period of the major exposure), and the peripheral blood cell composition (at a late time period coincident with the studies of induced radioresistance) has been found in the Techa riverside residents in the later periods after the onset of a long-term low-dose rate radiation exposure (55-60 years later) within a range of individual red bone marrow doses from 0.01 to 1.79 Gy. The nature of these dependences observed in chronically exposed individuals differs from that revealed in the controls. It can be suggested based on the results of the study that the capacity for the adaptive response shown by peripheral blood lymphocytes donated by exposed persons in the remote period after exposure can be regarded as a biological marker of the functional state of the hemopoietic stem cell pool.     

Features of DNA synthesis in chromatin from rat blood lymphocytes upon exposure to varying doses of ionizing radiation

Changes in the level of chromatin DNA synthesis after the total X-ray irradiation of rats in the dozes 0.5 Gr, 1 Gr and 7.76 Gr were shown. Interrelations between postradiation correlation of protein and DNA in lymphocytes of peripheral of blood rats were analyzed.     

Soluble HLA class I and HLA class II antigens in the blood of HIV infected patients

The levels of HLA, class I, antigen and HLA-DR antigen in the blood sera of HIV-infected persons were determined by the enzyme immunoassay. The levels of soluble antigens HLR-DR and of HLA, class I, in serum samples containing only antibodies to HIV were elevated, respectively, 1.8- and 1.3-fold in comparison with the norm. The level of soluble HLA-DR antigen in samples containing the markers of other infections (HBsAg, antibodies to hepatitis C virus, anti-IgM antibodies to cytomegalovirus) was significantly higher in comparison with samples containing only antibodies to HIV and serum samples from healthy donors (p < 0.05). The concentration of soluble HLA antigen, class I, in the samples containing antibodies to HIV and markers of other infections was also elevated, but the statistically authentic increase in comparison with the normal level was observed only in the presence of the markers of HIV infection, hepatitis C and cytomegalovirus infection.     

Cytogenetic results of irradiation of Southern Ural residents

The paper summarizes the results of studies of 85 individuals exposed in the Southern Ural region. The spontaneous frequency of the cells with micronuclei (MN) in a population of human blood lymphocytes after PHA stimulation and cytokinetic block with cytochalasin B has been determined. The sensitivity of lymphocytes to the irradiation at the dose of 1.0 Gy and the adaptive response (AR) after the irradiation at the low adaptive dose of 0.05 Gy, and the challenge dose of 1.0 Gy 5 h later have been studied too. It was shown that the peculiarity of the Urals population consists in a higher individual variability of the frequency of cells with MN in all groups have been investigated (spontaneous, after acute irradiation in the dose 1.0 Gy) in comparison with Moscow people. The proportion of persons with a significant AR in the Urals groups was considerably lower than that identified among Moscow residents, and the number of persons with enhanced radiosensitivity increased following low-dose irradiation. We can suppose that prolonged action of low level radiation with another ecological factors, living in the contaminated regions result in the enhancement of the sensitivity to the genotoxic agents in the separate individuals.     

The adaptive response of first generation offsprings irradiated parents

In offspring's of first generation irradiated inhabitants of Techa river (fathers, mothers and both parents) the spontaneous level of damaged blood lymphocytes, sensitivity of lymphocytes to the additional acute irradiation in dose 1.0 Gy and radioinduced adaptive response after adaptive (5 cGy) and challenge (1.0 Gy) irradiation 5 h after was studied. The micronuclei test with cytochalasin B as a criteria of the effect have been used. It was shown, that descendents of irradiated parents differ from the control group. The main difference is the significant decrease of the adaptive response frequency in the progeny. In the offspring's of the irradiated fathers and mothers there is no one individuals with the adaptive response; in the offspring's of both irradiated parents the frequency of individuals with adaptive response decreases in control from 19.5% to 6.8%. The distribution of descendents according to response on adaptive irradiation differ significantly from the control distribution and from the each other. And the tendency to the radiosensitivity increase after adaptive irradiation was observed. In the whole joint group of progeny the mean spontaneous cell frequency with micronuclei decreased, but the sensitivity of lymphocytes to the additional acute irradiation doesn't differ from the control. The results of the paper permit to suppose that transgenerational genome instability in human can be determined. Earlier discovered decrease of the adaptive response frequency in the Techa river livings is observed in the offspring's of irradiated fathers, mothers and both parents.