Biochemistry (Moscow), Supplement Series B: Biomedical Chemistry最新文献

The task of studying radiation “bystander effects” at the organism level was set in the work. Irradiated and nonirradiated mice that were kept together were used in the experiment. Mice were irradiated at a dose of 3 Gy in a research radiobiological gamma installation with the sources of ¹³⁷Cs. The number of leukocytes and relative number of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of mice were estimated 3, 7, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days after the beginning of the experiment. In nonirradiated “bystander” mice kept with irradiated mice both in the cages without a partition and with a partition, there is a possible trend towards a decrease in the number of leukocytes as compared with indices in the biocontrol. During the analysis of relative number of lymphocytes, a trend towards a decrease in the index in “bystander” mice was demonstrated both when keeping without a partition and with a partition. In nonirradiated “bystander” animals when keeping with irradiated animals in the cage with a partition, a statistically significant decrease in the relative number of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood was registered on days 3 (t = 2.13; p = 0.047), 30 (t = 2.94; p = 0.01), and 90 (t = 3.07; p = 0.01) after irradiation as well as when keeping in the same cage with irradiated mice without a partition on day 60 (t = 2.24; p = 0.038) after the beginning of the experiment. A “bystander effect” in nonirradiated animals is one of possible explanations for the detected changes. In irradiated animals that were kept in the same cage with a partition together with nonirradiated animals, a statistically significant increase in the relative number of lymphocytes was registered on days 3 (t = 2.6; p = 0.02), 14 (t = 2.61; p = 0.018), and 60 (t = 2.38; p = 0.03) (“rescue effect”). Based on data obtained in the present experiment, it is assumed that the radiation “bystander effect” can have the opposite nature; that is, nonirradiated organisms are able to reduce the radiation effects in irradiated individuals (“rescue effect”).

Atherosclerosis is a disease of blood vessels which is caused by inherited and acquired factors and leads to different complications in the body including blood clot formation, a serious condition that can threat human life. This study aims to measure the prevalence of thrombophilia gene mutations; Factor V Leiden (FVL, G1691A) and F-II (G20210A) in Jordanian patients with atherosclerosis. Using real-time PCR, the prevalence of heterozygous and homozygous variants of FVL (G1691A) were 11.32 and 1.87% respectively. In F-II (G20210), the prevalence was 1.87 and 0.31% for heterozygous and homozygous variants, respectively. Comparing mutants’ frequencies between patients with atherosclerosis and healthy people (control) showed no significant difference suggesting no relation of these mutants and thrombus formation in atherosclerotic patients, however, among patients’ group there was a significant difference in the prevalence of FVL (G1691A) variants between male and female populations and insignificant difference for F-II (G20210). In conclusion, the results of this study showed no relation of inherited F-V and F-II gene mutations in blood clot formation in atherosclerotic patients, suggestion that blood clot formation is related only to environmental factors belong to the nature of atherosclerotic plaque which trigger platelets and clotting proteins activation.

The authors examined 111 practically healthy individuals (66 women and 45 men aged 46–55 years) living and working in the Spitsbergen archipelago as well as in Murmansk oblast. The comparison group included 118 practically healthy people (59 women and 59 men, 46–55 years old) born and living in Arkhangelsk oblast. The hemogram of peripheral venous blood, the content of lymphocytes with the phenotypes CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD10+, CD16+, CD19+, CD23+, CD25+, and CD71+ were studied using indirect immunoperoxidase reaction and flow cytometry; concentrations of brain natriuretic peptide Nt-pro-BNP, endothelin-1, total NO, endogenous NO₂, nitrate NO₃, cortisol, norepinephrine, adrenaline were studied using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It has been established that individuals living in the Arctic and territories equated to the regions of the Far North have a higher concentration of Nt-pro-BNP in the venous peripheral blood. Elevated blood concentrations of Nt-pro-BNP are associated with higher levels of norepinephrine and cortisol against the background of less pronounced concentrations of adrenaline and endothelin-1 as well as redistribution of lymphocytes and monocytes from the circulating pool to the marginal pool.

Introduction. The North is a territory affected by a combination of extreme environmental factors that are stressful for all human functional systems. Most researchers come to the conclusion of a hypertensive effect of the climatic and geographical conditions of the North on the human organism. Arterial hypertension is the most common cause of a decrease in the quality of life, disability at a young age, and mortality in northern residents. Therefore, the studies aimed at investigating the epidemiology of the genes that increase the risk of developing arterial hypertension in the territory of the circumpolar zone are especially relevant. Aim. The aim of our study was to study the regional peculiarities of the prevalence of polymorphisms in the genes AGT (rs4762), AGTR1 (rs5186), ADD1 (rs4961), and NOS3 (rs2070744) involved in the regulation of arterial pressure in northern residents of Magadan oblast. Materials and Methods. A cross-sectional, simultaneous study was carried out in the sample of 101 unrelated, almost healthy northern men of Magadan oblast (mainly Europeans) living or born in this territory. The mean age of the subjects was 46.12 ± 1.5 years. Genotyping of polymorphic candidate genes for arterial hypertension was performed using a polymerase chain reaction method. The frequencies of the phenotypes, genes, observed and expected heterozygosity, and genetic distances between different populations were calculated; the matrices of genetic distances were used for a cluster analysis. Results. It was established that the frequencies of the alleles that increase the risk of arterial hypertension were 0.1337 (AGT*T), 0.3564 (NOS3*C), 0.2550 (AGTR1*C), and 0.1832 (ADD1*T). Conclusions. A trend of low frequencies of the candidate genes for arterial hypertension is a regional peculiarity of the genetic profile of the population of northern residents of Magadan oblast. Therefore, when compiling prognostic health cards taking into account an ethno-territorial specificity in the territory of Magadan oblast, it is necessary to take into account not only the genetic risk factors for arterial hypertension, but also the timely lifestyle correction, prescription of preventive measures to prevent the development of arterial hypertension in young age.

A new human uveal melanoma (UM) cell line uMel1 was established by mechanical disintegration of a tumor fragment. uMel1 cells had a stellate dendrite-like shape, contained a lot of brown melanin pigment, and had a low mitotic index. Optimization of cultivation conditions led to an increase in the rate of cell proliferation and was accompanied by the loss of brown pigment. Since the melanin precursor is L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA), the authors analyzed the cultivation of uMel1 cells in the presence of L-DOPA. When L-DOPA was used at a concentration of 20 μg/mL, causing a decrease in cell viability by no more than 10%, melanocytes uMel1 synthesized melanin. It can be concluded that cultivation in the presence of L-DOPA provides the phenotype of melanin-containing melanocytes of uMel1 personal culture under conditions of long-term cultivation. Analysis of cell adhesion molecules N-cadherin (N-cad), E-cadherin (E-cad), and Mel-CAM, as well as receptors of the epidermal growth factor (ErbB) family by flow cytometry, showed that uMel1 cells have a phenotype of N-cad^–/E-cad^–/Mel-CAM⁺/HER2^low/HER3^low, and can be used for the study of targeted drugs to Mel-CAM, HER2 and HER3.

The use of high-performance liquid chromatography in combination with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) provides a selective determination of free choline in blood plasma. The instability of the measurement results is due to the residual activity of phospholipases that promote the hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine ex vivo. The use of EDTA as an anticoagulant and compliance with the cold regime (≤4°C) from blood sampling to the supply of deproteinized and diluted plasma for analysis ensures the accuracy of the analysis (standard deviation not higher than 15%) within the linear range (0.5–10) μg/mL or (5–96) µM. Using a validated method of choline determination in plasma, it was found that the concentration of choline in plasma was (10.0 ± 2.2) μM in a group of people 20–40 years old with no identified diseases (n = 30), while the plasma choline concentration within 90 min rose from the baseline value (8.9 ± 1.3) to the mean value (19.1 ± 4.3) μM and remained at this level during the entire observation period of 72 h in volunteers of the same age and also without identified diseases (n = 50) after a single administration of M-cholinoblocker biperiden at a dose of 2 mg. It has also been confirmed that acute renal failure and advanced age are associated with increased plasma free choline concentrations.

The purpose of the work was to study the influence of natural polysaccharides—arabinogalactan, galactomannan, and carrageenan—on the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae strains. It was found that carrageenan, especially in high concentrations, most effectively stimulated the growth of these microorganisms. A dependence of the effect of galactomannan on the concentration used was discovered: an inhibitory effect was detected in high doses and a stimulating effect in low doses. Arabinogalactan inhibited the growth of Klebsiella pneumoniae, which could be due to phenolic impurities (bioflavonoids), the presence of which is typical of this polysaccharide. Moreover, this polysaccharide at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL completely blocked the growth of the studied microbial strains, which can be explained by the antibacterial effect of flavonoids.

Nanomedicine showed the unique benefits in clinical outcomes in comparison with traditional and conventional drugs in the treatment of cancer. In the future, nanomedicine therapy seems to pave the way for new treatments in cancer. In this regard, silica nanoparticles are used in various fields of technology, biomedicine and biosensing techniques due to their unique properties such as stability, biocompatibility, high surface area, significant reactivity and functionalizability. Although there are various physical and chemical methods for synthesizing silica nanoparticles, its synthesis by green method has other significant features such as being environmentally friendly, cost-effective, saving time and eliminating toxic compounds and harmful by-products that increase their application in the field of biomedicine. In the method of green synthesis of silica nanoparticles, various sources such as plants, fungi, bacteria, yeast, actinomycetes, etc. are used. In this narraitive review, various biomedical applications of green synthesized silica nanoparticles are discussed along with their examples.

Background: Calcin is a group of globular peptides with 33−35 AAs that penetrate the cell membrane and specially target RyRs from scorpion venoms, however, which fragment in primary sequence for its transmembrane effect is unclear yet. Methods: eight different fragments of the typical Opicalcin1 (OpiCa1) were synthesized according to the distribution of charged amino acids in primary sequence, followed by the determination of both cell penetration activity and cytotoxic. Results: In all eight OpiCa1 fragments, OpiCa1₁₇₋₃₃, OpiCa1₁₋₁₁, and OpiCa1₂₃₋₃₃ were predicted to be CPPs by CellPPD, and their predicted scores were much smaller than that of TAT, which is consistent with the proportion of basic amino acids. Further fluorescent microscopic experiments found that three fragments FITC labeled OpiCa1₁₇₋₃₃, OpiCa1₁₂₋₂₂ and OpiCa1₂₃₋₃₃ displayed similar cell penetrating capacities to that of TAT. In contrast, flow cytometry found that FITC-OpiCa1₁₇₋₃₃ and FITC-OpiCa1₂₃₋₃₃ have even larger intracellular fluorescent intensities than that of TAT, indicating stronger cell penetrating capacity. Other OpiCa1 fragments displayed slightly cell penetrating effect, of which the fluorescent intensities were slightly larger than that of control but significantly lower than that of TAT, FITC-OpiCa1₁₇₋₃₃ and FITC-OpiCa1₂₃₋₃₃. Moreover, although it is not ruled out the impact on cell viability, overall, all OpiCa1 fragments exhibited no or lower cytotoxicity. Conclusion: The latter half of calcin e.g. OpiCa1 in primary sequence is the main responsible fragment for its membrane penetrating ability, and is also a potential new CPP for further utilization e.g. drug delivery.