Therapeutic effect of the transfusion of UV-irradiated donor plasma in mechanical jaundice

The method of intravenous administration of UV-irradiated donor plasma to patients with jaundice of different genesis has been tested in the experiments on rats and used clinically in 20 patients. Biochemical and morphological studies have shown that such treatment causes stable improvement in the liver functional state.     

Effect of alpha particles on bacteriophage T4

Exponential survival curves were obtained for a dry film culture of bacteriophage T4 Br+ after exposure to both alpha-particles and gamma-quanta. Relative biological effectiveness of alpha-particles was 4.68 with respect to survival. The mutation spectrum after alpha-irradiation slightly differed from that produced by gamma-radiation.     

Identity of human granulocyte kininogenase and plasminogen activator

Preparative isoelectrofocusing used for fractionating the whole human granulocyte lysate serine proteinases revealed multiple forms of elastase, cathepsin G, kininogenase, human granulocytes plasminogen activator (pI 6.2-10.75). Kinetic characteristics of their substrate specificity were also obtained. It is shown that serine kininogenase of human granulocytes is not identical with elastase as it had been supposed before, it is of trypsin-like nature and is identical with plasminogen activator of these cells. The results obtained reveal new aspects in comprehension of the role of the granulocyte plasminogen activator in development of the inflammatory reaction. It is found that acid-stable proteinase inhibitors formed from blood plasma inter-alpha-inhibitor of trypsin, have an inhibitory effect on the granulocyte plasminogen activator, that supports an assumption on the anti-inflammatory function of these inhibitors.     

Effects of cationic vectors complexed with plasmid DNA on the phagosome-lysosome fusion in murine peritoneal macrophages and J744 macrophages

Polyethylenimine (PEI) and cationic polypeptides complexed with plasmid DNA are the most efficient nonviral vectors for gene therapy. It is believed that endocytosis is the major pathway for cell entering by PEI/DNA or cationic peptides/DNA complexes. Effects of plasmid DNA complexed with PEI, poly-L-lysine (PLL), poly-D-lysine (PDL) and polyarginine (PA) on the phagosome-lysosome fusion (P-LF) were studied in murine peritoneal macrophages and J774 macrophages. Cationic polypeptide PLL can be hydrolysed by cellular peptidases, but its stereoisomer, PDL, cannot be split by these enzymes. PEI, PDL, and PA have been shown to inhibit P-LF. PLL showed a low effect on the P-LF. On the basis of these studies, we assume that lysosomotropic agents able to change functions of lysosomes in the cell may affect transfection efficiency and thus be used for gene therapy.