[Studies of individual patterns of blood proteins control during simulation of the microgravity effects on humans].

Blood samples taken from test-subjects in the 7-d immersion experiment were analyzed for blood proteins belonging to alpha1- and alpha2-globulins electrophoretic fractions: alphal-antitripsin (alpha1-AT), a1-acidic glycoprotein (alpha1-AGP), ceruplasmin (Cer), haptoglobin (Hp), alpha2-macroglobulin (alpha2-M), apolipoprotein A (ApoA). Immersion was demonstrated to alter concentrations of the studied proteins; besides, it was shown that return to the normal state could also affect protein concentrations. Immersion effects on blood proteins patterned after acute reaction. Temporal profiles of alpha1-AGP, Cer, alpha2-M, Hp and ApoA were identical in all the test-subjects. Differences were mostly in the speed and amplitude of concentrations shifting. However, alpha1-AT showed a diversity of trends, whereas ApoA was common to all the subjects, three of them had this protein dropped below the bottom reference range. In two of these subject, baseline ApoA concentrations were also significantly lower in comparison to the others. These results infer that monitoring of blood alpha1-AT and ApoA in the period of adaptation to a changed environment may provide information useful for assessment of individual adaptability.

[Population genetic study of Russian cosmonauts and test subjects: genetic demographic parameters and immunogenetic markers].

Genetic demographic characteristics and immunogenetic markers (blood groups ABO, Rhesus, MNSs, P, Duffy, Kidd, and Kell) have been studied in a group of 132 Russian cosmonauts and test subjects (CTSG). Analysis of pedigrees has shown a high exogamy in the preceding generations: almost half of the subjects have mixed ethnic background. According to the results of genetic demographic analysis, a sample from the Moscow population was used as control group (CG). Comparison between the CTSG and CG has demonstrated significant differences in genotype frequencies for several blood group systems. The CTSG is characterized by a decreased proportion of rare interlocus genotypic combinations and an increased man heterozygosity. Analysis of the distributions of individual heterozygosity for loci with codominant expression of alleles has shown that highly heterozygous loci are more frequent in the CTSG. Taking into account that the CTSG has been thoroughly selected from the general population, it is concluded that heterozygosity is related to successful adaptation to a space flight.

[Identification of individual genotype parameters, informative for medical care in piloted space missions: modern and future capabilities].

The factors of space flight provoke some negative shifts in crew health. Improvement of the methods of diagnostics, evaluation of predisposition to diseases and correction of functional deviations is within the scope of the crew medical operations personnel. It is also a new focus of biomedical research referred to as "personalized medicine" the corner stone of which is genetic analysis. Investigations in this area are prediscovery by character; population genetics seems to be the most adequate approach. The authors give examples of candidate genes the genotypes of which could be of significance to medical operations and discuss the genetic safety of space flight. Aside from the applied aspects, the genetic investigations of space crews are of their own concernment in understanding the genetic basis of differences in biological resistance to unhealthy environment.

[Blood plasma proteins following long-duration space flight].

Protein composition of blood plasma was an object of investigation in 29 Russian cosmonauts flown on the MIR station from 125 to 366 days. Protein fractions were analyzed using acetate cellulose electrophoresis. Concentration of total protein was determined with the help of the biuret reaction on an automated analyzer. On the second day post flight, mean concentration of total protein and percentage of the protein fractions were equal to baseline values. In the interval between days 7 and 14 post flight, total protein was statistically reduced, alphal- N alpha2-globulins increased and y-globulin reduced, whereas albumin and beta-globulins were unchanged in the average. These results may point to development of an acute reaction in the early period of readaptation to the return from long-duration space flight.

[The prospects for studying the induced genetic instability unber the spaceflight conditions].

Consideration is given to the facts of mutagenesis during orbital space flight and tangibility of development for and application of genetic tests to space crewmembers based on the present-day concepts about the cellular mechanisms of genome maintenance and destabilization.

[Prebiotics--promising alimentary preventors of digestion dysfunctions caused by adverse environmental factors].

Prevention and treatment of digestive dysfunction due to hostile environments can be effected by prebiotics i.e. carbohydrates undigestible by the upper GI tract but favorable to selective stimulation of the growth and metabolizing activity of nonpathogenic commensal microflora. There are empiric evidence of the prebiotics positive action on GI cells and tissues, large intestine micro-ecology, mineral and lipid metabolism, and the immune status of humans and animals. Therefore, there is good reason to seek to develop brand new foods that would contain prebiotics, and recommendations on their use in common and extraordinary conditions.

[Growth of three-dimensional complexes of living cells in the process of rotational cultivation]. / Vyrashchivanie trekhmernykh kompleksov zhivotnykh kletok v usloviiakh rotatsionnogo kul'tivirovaniia.

Unlike the monolayer cultures, three-dimensional (multilayer) cultures of living cells make it possible to more closely imitate events occurring in native tissues. Rotating cultivators for three-dimensional cultures create analogous conditions of reduced gravity and, therefore, can be used in ground-based investigations of the biological effects of space flight. We have designed a disposable cultivation cell with diffused gas exchange and a device to rotate the cell at a controlled speed about the horizontal axis. Immortalized CH-fibroblasts were attached to a glass carrier pretreated with polylysine. Cultivation was performed for 2-3 days at 8 rot./min. A rapid growth of three-dimensional cell complexes was observed during the cultivation. The investigation demonstrated that multilayer cultures of immortalized CH-fibroblasts represent a convenient model for studies in cell biology and development of technologies of growing d-dimensional living cell complexes as a source of implants from autologic cells (including stem cells) thus resolving the problem of donator materials.

Three-dimensional (3-D) structures formed by immortalized human fibroblast cells in simulated microgravity.

3-D structures were obtained at rotatory cultivation of CH immortalyzed human fibroblasts attached to glass microcarrier beads. The morphology of cells from these cultures was studied by scanning electron microscopy. A number of structural alterations in fibrillar filopodia of CH cells were revealed as compared with cells grown in stationary monolayer cultures, namely, smaller length, uneven caliber, the presence of curvatures, and disturbed branching pattern. Filopodia displayed unusual formations: protuberance-like and "mammoth's tusk"-like off-shoots, foamy spreadings in distal segments, and spiral windings of filopodia. The susceptibility of CH cells morphology to mechanical environment makes them a promising model for gravitational biology studies.

[Therapeutic effectiveness of histaglobin preparations in patients with allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria]. / Terapevticheskaia éffektivnost' preparatov gistaglobina u bol'nykh allergicheskim rinitom i khronicheskoi krapivnitsei.

AIM: To evaluate therapeutic effects of histaglobin drugs (histaglobin and histaglobin-triplex) in patients with continuous allergic rhinitis (CAR) and chronic recurrent (idiopathic) urticaria (CRU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The drugs were given to 45 patients with CAR and high sensitivity to household allergens confirmed by cutaneous diagnostic tests or high IgE level, and 40 patients with CRU with typical cutaneous lesions. The drugs were injected subcutaneously (a total of 6 injections, 2 ml of solution each) with the interval 2-3 or 3-4 days. Histaglobin was given as 12 mg of normal human immunoglobulin + 0.00015 mg of histamine dihydrochloride. Histamine-triplex as 36 mg of immunoglobulin + 0.00045 mg of histamine dihydrochloride. The treatment was repeated in a months (3 injections). Clinical response was assessed in scores by the scale of clinical symptoms. RESULTS: Histaglobin relieved symptoms of CAR (from 7.34 +/- 0.095 to 1.7 +/- 0.04 scores on the treatment day 28, p < 0.01). After the repeated course CAR symptoms attenuated to 1.6 +/- 0.057 scores). Extranasal symptoms significantly reduced too. Excellent and good results were achieved in 80% of the patients. Positive results were also obtained in 82.5% of CRU patients. Tolerance of histaglobin and histaglobin-triplex was good. CONCLUSION: In the tested regimen, both histaglobin and histaglobin-triplex proved effective in CAR and CRU when routine treatment failed.

[Biological techniques in space]. / Biologicheskie tekhnologii v kosmose.

The review is dedicated to the biotechnological studies in space. The main directions of studies in the space biotechnology are the developments of life support systems, crystallogenesis of biological macromolecules, separation of proteins and cells with the help of electrophoresis as well as the studies of cellular, subcellular and molecular processes induced by the spaceflight factors effect. The experience gained in the cultivation of unicellular organisms, the selection of perspective species and strains of microorganisms, the use of them in the ecological life-support system under development is considered in detail. The development of tooling designed for performing the overall technological chain ranged from growing the cell cultures to isolating the individual macromolecules and their storage has been followed. Findings gained in the studies of the transmittance of genetic material in the microorganisms allow one to hope that in perspective the microgravity conditions will be capable of cultivating the highly effective strains of the producers.

[Effect of 135 days human stay in chamber on the composition of electrophoretic fraction and levels of some individual plasma proteins]. / Vliianie dlitel'noí izoliatsii cheloveka v germoob''ekte na sostav 'elektroforeticheskikh fraktsií i soderzhanie nekotorykh individual'nykh belkov plazmy.

The investigation was performed with three test-subjects who were locked in a chamber with simulated spaceflight environment for 135 days. Samples of venous plasma were collected to determine concentrations of total protein, total cholesterol (TCh), cholesterol of high density lipoproteins (HDLP), alpha 1-inhibitor of proteolysis (alpha 1-Pl), alpha 2-microglobulin (alpha 2 M), and haptoglobin (Hp). Concentrations of cholesterol of low density lipoproteins (Ch LDLP) and HDLP-LDLP ratio were calculated. Relative content of electrophoretic fractions of alpha 1- and alpha 2-globulins and a qualitative pattern of electrophoretic separation of lipoproteins were also determined. Data from the investigation showed significant decreases in alpha 1-Pl, alpha 2-M, Hp, and the alpha 2-globulin fraction that could be consequent to suppression of protein synthesis in the liver. Considering that at some points in the investigation concentrations of proteolysis-inhibiting and regulating alpha 1-Pl and alpha 2-M dropped to or went beyond the bottom margin of the norm, these effects have physiological implications. On days 2 and 7 after exit from the chamber, a weak acute-phase reaction was apparently linked with the emotional stress. Two test-subjects had chronologically differing periods of elevated TCh and Ch HDLP. Yet, the HDLP-LDLP ratios have never left boundaries of the physiological norm.

[Assessment of the risk factors for urolithiasis in cosmonauts during long flights]. / Otsenka faktorov riska urolitiaza u kosmonavtov pri dlitel'nykh poletakh.

Twelve cosmonauts flown aboard the Mir orbital station for 6-12 months and twelve candidates for cosmonauts were examined in an effort to determine a degree of urolithiasis risk. Prior to flight, on flight day 310 (in one cosmonaut) and after flight, the daily urinary excretion of the components influencing lithiasis formation was determined as well as a computer-aided calculation of urine saturation by lithogenic salts was performed (Ch. Pak, USA). In the in- and postflight periods, the greater number of indices under study were negatively changed in cosmonauts. Excretion dynamics of the lithogenesis inhibitors, i.e., citrates and magnesium, is of polar directionality. Frequency of deviations from the normal indices of urolithic risk in cosmonauts is primarily conditioned by low diuresis, urine supersaturation with calcium oxalate, undissociated uric acid, brushit, hypercalciuria, and changed pH.

[Role of lectins in allergic reactivity]. / Rol' lektinov v allergicheskoi reaktivnosti.

Skin reaction on phytohemagglutinin in healthy people and in patients with allergic bronchial asthma before and after specific hyposensitization has been studied. The attempt to determine interrelations between the skin sensitivity to phytohemagglutinin and some immunity indexes and to explain several links of lectins' action mechanisms during allergic processes have been made.

[Metabolism in cosmonauts: the results of biochemical research on the blood of the crew members of the 7 prime expeditions on the Mir orbital space complex]. / Obmen veshchestv u kosmonavtov: itogi biokhimicheskogo issledovaniia krovi u chlenov ékipazhei 7 osnovnykh ékspeditsii na orbital'nom komplekse "Mir".

The pre- and postflight biochemical analyses of the blood of 16 cosmonauts flown aboard Mir orbital station over 125-366 days revealed the changes in carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism being in line with the present-day ideas about the space flight effects on the human metabolism. A particular individual pattern of the responses and the absence of correlation with flight duration of space expeditions ranging from 4 months to a 1 year, are noted.

[The protein composition of the blood plasma of cosmonauts after prolonged orbital flights]. / Belkovyi sostav plazmy krovi kosmonavtov posle dlitel'nykh orbital'nykh poletov.

The method of two-dimensional electrophoresis was used to determine the protein composition of blood plasma in the cosmonauts stayed on board Mir station over 166 and 366 days. Separation pattern of plasma protein observed next day after landing had several typical differences from the standard pattern of plasmatic proteins found during a preflight examination and on the 7th postflight day. The changes were an increase in intensity of specific protein spots as well as in occurrence of unusual protein spots.

Protein composition in human plasma after long-term orbital missions and in rodent plasma after spaceflights on biosatellites "Cosmos-1887" and "Cosmos-2044".

The two-dimensional plasma protein map of crewmembers of long-duration "Mir" expeditions obtained the day after the recovery shows a manifold increase in the content of several proteins normally seen in trace amounts. The emergence of several unusual protein spots occurs as well, some of them probably due to charge shifts provided by the events influencing posttranslational modification processes. By the 8 postflight day these phenomena were disappeared. In the "Cosmos-1887" biosatellite experiment, the plasma samples obtained two days after the landing as well as plasma of synchronous animals exhibited the higher fibrinogen levels when compared to those of vivarium animals. The protein consisting of a number of fractions with molecular weight of 50 to 60 kD and pI 5 to 6 had protein spots of similar size in flight and synchronous animals while in vivarium rats one of the spots was larger in size as opposed to the others. The plasma protein spectrum of flight and synchronous groups of animals in "Cosmos-1887" experiment where plasma samples were prepared in the period of time from 5 to 10 hours after spaceflight coincided with the pattern of vivarium animals. The data suggest that the protein changes described above develop during postflight period and accelerations, vibrations, readaptation to 1 G gravity, emotional stress could be the cause of these alterations.