[Role of restricted nitric oxide overproduction in the cardioprotective effect of adaptation to intermittent hypoxia].

Adaptation to intermittent normobaric hypoxia is cardioprotective and can stimulate nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. However the role of nitric oxide (NO) in prevention of ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of myocardium is controversial. This study was focused on evaluating the effect of adaptation to hypoxia and IR on NO production and development of nitrative stress in the myocardium. Adaptation to hypoxia tended to increase NO production, which was determined by the total level of plasma nitrite and nitrate, and prevented IR-induced NO overproduction. The IR-induced NO overproduction was associated with significant 3-nitrotyrosine (3-NT) accumulation in the left ventricle but not in septum or aorta. In hypoxia-adapted rats, 3-NT after IR was similar to that of control rats without IR. IHC induced marked accumulation of HIF-1alpha in the left ventricle. We suggest that HIF-1alpha contributes to NO-synthase expression during adaptation to hypoxia and thereby facilitates the increase in NO production. NO, in turn, may subsequently prevent NO overproduction during IR by a negative feedback mechanism.

[Prevention of the brain neurodegeneration in rats with experimental Alzheimer's disease by adaptation to hypoxia].

The study focused on a possibility of preventing brain neurodegeneration by adaptation to intermittent hypoxia (AH) in rats with experimental Alzheimer's disease (AD) modeled by injection of a neurotoxic bert-amyloid peptide fragment (Ab) into n. basalis magnocellularis. AH was produ- ced in an altitude chamber (4.000 m; 4 hours daily; 14 days). The following results were obtained after fifteen days of the Ab injection: (1) AH substantially prevented the memory impairment induced by Ab, which was determined using the conditioned avoidance reflex test; (2) the AH significantly restricted the enhanced oxidative stress, which was determined spectrophotometrically by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance level in the hippocampus; (3) the AH completely prevented Ab-induced nitric oxide (NO) overproduction in brain, which was measured by tissue level of nitrite and nitrate; (4) pathologically changed and dead neurons (Niessle staining) were absent in the brain cortex of rats exposed to AH before the Ab injection. Therefore AH seems to effectively prevent oxidative and nitrosative stress thereby providing protection of brain against neurodegeneration and preservation of cognitive function in experimental AD.

[Organ specificity in nitric oxide storage in the blood vessel walls during adaptation to hypoxia].

Addition of N-acetylcysteine induced relaxation of the coronary and basilar arteries thus indicating some basilar NO-stores in these vessels. The maximum capacity of the NO-stores was similar in the coronary and the basilar arteries. Following adaptation to hypoxia, however, the depot was much greater in the coronary artery wall. This seems to be connected with different degree of participation of the NO-dependent vasodiatation in implementation of the adaptive response to hypoxia in coronary and cerebral vascular systems.

[The effects of adaptation to hypoxia on the resistance to neurodegenerative disorders in the brain of rats of different genetic strains].

The aim of the study was to compare the protective effects of adaptation to altitude hypoxia (AH) on neurodegenerative brain disorders (NBD) induced with infusion of beta-amyloid peptides (Abeta) into the brain (imitation of Alzheimer's disease) of rats belonging to two species: Wistar rats (WR) and August rats (AR). Previously it was shown by the authors that WR were less resistant to memory function impairment and open-field activities, induced with Abeta infusion compared with AR. This study showed that preliminary AH significantly restricted brain function impairment induced by Abeta in WR, so AH demonstrated the protective effect in WR. In contrast, in AR preliminary AH provoked those impairments induced by Abeta. The AH protective effect in WR was associated with activation of stress-limiting systems (antioxidant system, NO system). Lack of AH protective effect in AR was associated with lack of activation of these systems in these rats. Thus, the different AH effects on NBD development in WR and AR are obviously determined by hereditary peculiarities of stress-limiting systems in WR and AR.

[Blood serum lipoprotein spectrum in myocardial infarct]. / Lipoproteidnyi spektr syvorotki krovi pri infarkte miokarda.

The lipoprotein spectrum was studied in polyacrylamide gel and by thin-layer chromatography on silica gel in 236 patients with myocardial infarction in different periods of the disease, in 45 patients with unstable angina pectoris, in 75 healthy persons and in 8 dogs with experimental myocardial infarction. Besides an increase in the concentration of cholesterol and triglycerides and a decrease in the level of diglycerides in blood serum, there is a disturbance in the ratio of phospholipid fractions, mainly in myocardial infarction. The level of pre-beta-lipoproteins was increased in the acute period of myocardial infarction, the level of beta-lipoproteins in the subacute period. Complications and concomitant inflammatory diseases were attended by a higher level of beta-lipoproteins. A connection was noted between the lipoprotein spectrum, predominantly of the pre-beta-fraction, and the ABO phenotype and the season.