[STUDYING THE INTERACTION OF RHESUS MONKEYS WITH THE TACTILE MONITOR DURING THEIR OBSERVATION OF LOW-FREQUENCY VISUAL TEST IMAGES].

In behavioral experiments rhesus macaque monkeys were trained to interact with the computer using a tactile display. We used grayscale Gabor patches of low spatial frequency as stimuli. Monkeys' task was to touch the screen with his hand in the area of the target stimulus, followed by automatic food or juice reinforcement. After two successive correct answers, stimulus contrast gradually decreased. Using a two-alternative forced choice method the contrast threshold was measured within which monkeys can detect the appearance of low-frequency images. It was shown that the contrast sensitivity decreased with the decrease of stimulus spatial frequency, while the reaction time increased. The findings extend our knowledge of the primates' activity in the virtual environment and open new possibilities for modeling and studying various human diseases.

[A new property of orientation-selective neurons of the cat lateral geniculate body].

Neuronal mechanisms of description of local properties of visual object light-shadow surfaces are studied. Earlier we have shown the cat lateral geniculate body (LGB) neurons to have sensitivity to the value and direction of brightness vector in loci of object light-shadow surfaces. Further study of properties of orientational selectivity (OS) of these neurons has revealed that single LGB cells sensitive to direction of the brightness gradient vector also have the classical OS to direction of test bands. Such complex orientational sensitivity of neurons to direction of binary and light-shadow fragments of visual objects is of essential significance, in our opinion, for understanding of principles and mechanisms of object vision.

[Experimentally determined safety and immunological activity of vaccine based on antigens isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa in medium K-4].

The safety and immunological activity of P. aeruginosa vaccine were experimentally evaluated. The vaccine was prepared on the basis of the antigens of P. aeruginosa extracellular slime which was accumulated in medium K-4, obtained with the use of original technology. The immunization of animals with P. aeruginosa vaccine induced the synthesis of antibodies. The introduction of the vaccine in 2 or 3 injections resulted in a high level of antibody formation, differing with the use of various strains. Hyperimmune sera, obtained by the multiple immunization of rabbits with P. aeruginosa vaccine, ensured high protection of mice from P. aeruginosa infection. The vaccine proved to be safe when evaluated in experiments of acute and chronic toxicity, made on laboratory animals.

[Pseudomonas aeruginosa vaccine on the basis of antigens isolated from the supernatant of culture media K-4]. / Sinegnoinaia vaktsina na osnove antigenov, vydelennykh iz supernatanta sredy kul'tivirovaniia K-4.

The possibility of using experimental culture medium K-4 prepared on the basis of casein hydrolysate peptides with the isoelectric point 4.1 for obtaining antigens from P. aeruginosa strains was evaluated. Two antigenic fractions were isolated from the culture fluid containing extracellular slime. The study of the toxicity of the antigenic preparations revealed that one of these fractions had low toxicity for mice (the second antigenic fraction was highly toxic). The former P. aeruginosa antigenic fraction was used for obtaining pyocyanic vaccine. One vaccination dose of this vaccine contained 0.2 mg of the antigen adsorbed on aluminum hydroxide. Pyocyanic vaccine ensured the active protection of mice challenged with P. aeruginosa homologous and heterologous strains.

[Hemopoietic precursor cells during the development of carminomycin resistance]. / Rodonachal'nye kletki gemopoéza pri razvitii rezistentnosti k karminomitsinu.

A comparative quantitative investigation of colony-forming ability of mouse bone marrow hemopoietic stem cells in the case of ordinary leukemia variant (P-388) and carminomycin-resistant variant (P-388/k) was carried out. Leukemia bearing mice received single injections of increasing doses of carminomycin on the 5th day after transplantation and 24 hours later the bone marrow was investigated for quantity of colony-forming units in the spleen (CFUs). Dynamics investigation of bone marrow cells in the case of P-388 and P-388/k (without treatment) reveals the common tendency to a decrease of these cells in the period before animal death. Sensitivity of colony forming cells (CFUs) to different doses of the antibiotic of mouse bone marrow in both cases (P-388 and P-388/k) was practically the same. Dynamics of CFUs in two populations of cells after a single injection of carminomycin in doses causing the killing of 50% of CFUs showed that the antibiotic inhibited CFUs equally (50%). However this inhibition in case of CFUs with P-388/k leukemia was almost five times longer than in the case of ordinary P-388 one. Based on the investigations conducted the second injection of the antibiotic to mice with P-388/k leukemia on the fifteenth day after the first one may be recommended.

[Colony-forming ability of bone marrow hematopoietic cells in mice with transplanted leukemia during administration of carminomycin]. / Kolonieobrazuiushchaia sposobnost' gemopoéticheskikh kletok kostnogo mozga myshei s perevivnym leikozom pri vvedenii karminomitsina.

Effects of carminomycin on the colony-forming ability of bone marrow haemopoietic stem cells (CFUs) were compared in normal mice with steady state and actively regenerating bone marrow, and in P-388 and La leukemia-bearing mice. CFUs assays were performed 24 h after treatment of donor mice with the increasing doses of the drug. Leukemia-bearing mice received carminomycin on the 5th day after transplantation. The dose-effect curves were exponential for CFUS normal mice with both the steady state and active proliferation state of bone marrow. The maximal effect was found 24 h after injection of 0.7 mg/kg of carminomycin (ED50 for CFUS) being more pronounced in regenerating bone marrow. The dose-effect curves for leukemias were also exponential. In the case of La leukemia the killing of CFUs by carminomycin was the highest as compared with P-388 leukemia.

[Rate of ribosome movement along messenger RNA in E. coli under normal and inhibited translation]. / O skorosti dvizheniia ribosom vdol' informatsionnoi RNK u E. coli pri normal'noi transliatsii i pri ee ingibirovanii

Considerable decrease of polysome number (22% as compared with 48% in normally grown culture) was observed under methionine starvation of E. coli Hfr (Met-)culture . At the same time the amount of 70S ribosomes increased up to 32%, while it was 2--6% in the control, the content of free ribosome subunits (50S+30S) being stable. The number of polysomes was the same (congruent to 50%) both in the control culture and under inhibition of protein synthesis in E. coli Hfr(Met-) cells with chloramphenicol, the content of 70S ribosomes was increased (30%) like in the case of methionine starvation, and the amount of free ribosome subunits was decreased (24% as compared with 46% in the control). The rate of ribosome movement in polysomes in the presence of chloramphenicol is comparable with that in the control. The rate of ribosome movement along mRNA under methionine starvation in 1.6 times lower than in normally grown E.coli culture. The level of (14)C-leucine incorporation into newly synthesizing polysome proteins under chloramphenicol inhibition of protein synthesis and methionine starvation comprised 20% and 12% of the incorporation level inthe control respectively. It suggested that ribosomes under inhibition of protein synthesis by chloramphenicol or amino acid starvation continue their movement along mRNA with the rate comparable with that in the control. However in this case no peptide bonds are formed ("abortive" translocation).