Vol 470, No 1 (2016)

Methods of physicochemical further oxidation of hardly soluble sediment obtained from “wet combustion” of human exometabolites applied to space-purpose Bio Technological Life Support Systems (BTLLS) were studied. Most hardly dissoluble sediment containing Ca, P, Mg, and other essential plant nutrition elements were shown to dissolve in H₂O₂ and HNO₃ aqueous media activated by alternating electric current. Dissolved additional mineral elements allowed (as demonstrated for lettuce) to increase the productivity of BTLLS phototrophic unit plants more than twice, which is comparable to their productivity on standard Knop solution with balanced chemical composition. Thus, dissolved mineral elements can be involved into BTLLS turnover process and increase its closure degree.

Size of membrane microparticles (MPs) from blood plasma and MPs produced in vitro by activated endothelial cells (ECs), monocytes, THP-1 monocytic cells, granulocytes, and platelets was evaluated by dynamic light scattering. MPs were sedimented from the culture media, cell supernatants, and plasma at 20 000 g for 30 min. Average diameters of all types of MPs ranged from 300 to 600 nm. Plasma MPs had the smallest size. Close sizes were registered for MPs from platelets and THP-1 cells. MPs from monocytes were larger, and MPs from granulocytes and ECs were the largest ones. The data obtained indicate that the size of membrane MPs depends on the type of their cell-producers.

Intracellular signaling pathways were investigated in skeletal muscle cells at the early stages of alcohol addiction manifestations. No muscle fiber atrophy was observed in m. vastus lateralis of male patients. No significant changes in the signaling mechanisms that control protein degradation were detected as well. However, the concentration of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) in blood plasma as well as the content of markers of intracellular signaling pathways regulating protein synthesis were significantly reduced compared to the control group.

Magnetic markers which can be detected with an extremely high sensitivity with the method of magnetic particle quantification (MPQ) were synthesized. Using a controlled Stober reaction, a set of magnetic silica markers of different sizes and zeta potentials was obtained. The use of a carboxymethyl dextran polymer to stabilize the magnetite particles during the synthesis made it possible to substantially reduce the detection limit of the obtained construct, which opens up new opportunities for creating effective diagnostic nanoagents.

The mRNA for dopamine receptors of type D1, D3, D5, but not type D2, was detected in the thymus of rats starting from day 16 of embryonic development (E16). Dopamine at concentrations of 10^–8–10^‒6 M inhibited fetus thymocyte response to mitogen, confirming the functionality of the receptors and the possibility of a direct effect of dopamine on the developing thymus. Pharmacological inhibition of catecholamine synthesis in the crucial period of thymus development leads to long-term changes in the T-system immunity due to increased production of natural regulatory T-lymphocytes. The presence and functional activity of dopamine receptors in the fetal thymus indicates its ability to influence the development of the immune system of rats during ontogeny.

This article presents the characteristics of the highly inducible promoter of the gene encoding the mitochondrial porin, the voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC). This promoter is recommended for use in new genetic constructs both in basic research for assessing the adaptive strategy of lower eukaryotes under adverse conditions and in designing new highly competitive transformants producing economically important compounds (proteins, lipids, and organic acids) on its basis.

Three homeologous copies of the TaSMT1 gene for C24-sterol methyltransferase, which are located on chromosomes A, B, and D of Triticum aestivum hexaploid genome, were discovered. The bioinformatic analysis of the structure of these genes and sequencing de novo promoter sequences revealed differential expression of homeologous TaSMT1 genes in leaves and roots of wheat seedlings under normal conditions and in stress.

The content of neutral lipids in tissue homogenates and liver cell nuclei of hibernating Yakutian ground squirrels was studied. In homogenates, hibernation increases the content of fatty acids and reduces the content of glycerides and cholesterol. When studying the liver cell nuclei of torpid winter ground squirrels, we detected a twofold increase in the content of fatty acids, cholesterol, and monoglycerides as compared to the “summer” ground squirrels. In the active “winter” ground squirrels, as compared to the torpid winter ones, the content of cholesterol did not change, whereas the content of fatty acids, monoglycerides, and diglycerides decreased but remained higher than in the “summer” ground squirrels.

Using fragmental descriptors and artificial neural networks, a predictive model of the relationship between the structure of organic compounds and their blood-brain barrier permeability was constructed and the structural factors affecting the readiness of this penetration were analyzed. This model (N = 529, Q² = 0.82, RMSE_cv = 0.32) surpasses the previously published models in terms of the prediction accuracy and the applicability domain and can be used for the optimization of the pharmacokinetic parameters during drug development.

Macroscopic kinetic models describing the process of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are currently solved only by numerical methods, which hampers the development of effective software algorithms for processing the results of the reaction. This paper considers the application of the homotopy perturbation method for obtaining approximate analytical solution of the simplest system of enzymatic kinetic equations describing the synthesis of nucleic acid molecules during PCR. The resulting approximate analytic solution with high accuracy reproduces the results of a numerical solution of the system in a wide range of ratios of enzyme and substrate concentrations both for the case of a large excess of the substrate over the enzyme and vice versa.