[Our experience in the use of a Russian preparation of pulmonary surfactant in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe pneumonia in children]. / Nash opyt primeneniia otechestvennogo preparata legochnogo surfaktanta dlia lecheniia sindroma ostrogo povrezhdeniia legkikh i tiazhelykh pnevmonii u detei.

Six critical patients aged 2 months to 13 years with lung diseases were treated by pulmonary surfactant preparation. Three of these children developed the acute respiratory distress syndrome in the presence of grave pneumonia (1 case), asphyxial drowing (1 case), and small-small intestinal invagination (1 case), three others developed acute bilateral large focal pneumonia with or without repeated atelectases. The drug Surfactant-BL was administered in a dose of 400 micrograms/m2 by instillations (2 cases) or by inhalation aerosols. The drug improved blood gases, lung compliance, x-ray picture, and clinical status of all patients, permitting a decrease in IMV/SIMV parameters within 12-48 h after the last administration and discontinuation of IMV/SIMV in 3 patients within 24 h after 1 or two administrations. Five children survived, 1 (with asphyxial drowning) died with brain edema and wedging syndrome. Surfactant-BL is a safe and effective drug; administration through alveolar nebulisers should be preferred.

[Radiologic detection of triombrast in liposomes of liver and spleen (first phase of clinical trial)]. / Triombrast v liposomakh dlia rentgenologicheskoi vizualizatsii pechenii selezenki (pervaia faza klinicheskikh ispytanii).

Clinical trials of the liposomal form of water-soluble x-ray contrast agent triombrast (90 mg of iodine in 1 ml) was carried out in 23 patients with Hodgkin's disease, 9 with liver cirrhosis, and 6 with malignant tumors of different localizations. Distinct images of the liver and spleen appeared 2-2.5 h after intravenous injection of the formulation. They could be observed during 4-6 h by plane radiography. Liposomal hepatolienography permits identification of the structural alteration sites 0.8-1.0 cm in size in these organs. Administration of higher doses of the formulation (more that 0.5 ml/kg) was associated with such side effects as fever and hyperthermia in 30% of patients parallel with the side effects common for iodine-containing x-ray contrast agents. These side effects could be eliminated by previous administration of prednisolone and pipolphen. These side effects were not observed after injection of lower doses of the formulation (less than 0.5 ml/kg) sufficient for an essential improvement of the image contrast during computer-aided tomography.

[The structural changes in the lungs and the phospholipids of the pulmonary surfactant in experimental bleomycin-induced pneumosclerosis in rats]. / Strukturnye izmeneniia legkikh i fosfolipidov legochnogo surfaktanta pri éksperimental'nom bleomitsinovom pnevmoskleroze u krys.

Light microscopy was used to study rat lungs. Some morphological and biochemical characteristics after single bleomycin intratracheal administration in a dose of 10 mg/kg were studied. Some metabolic changes in the alveolar epithelium and vascular endothelium were estimated quantitatively. The peculiar picture of acute toxic alveolitis in the early stage of the injury and the features of fibrotic alveolitis by the 30-60th day were observed. The LDH and succinate dehydrogenase activities in the alveolar epithelium increased by the 3-7th day and returned to normal by the 30th day. At the same time the PL content increased 2-fold by the 30-60th day. The lysolecithin, sphingomyelin and phosphatidylserine concentration increased on the 3-7th day and returned to normal level on the 14th day. The phosphatidylglicerol content decreased significantly by the 60th day.

[The radioprotective properties of the liposomal form of mexamine]. / Radiozashchitnye svoistva liposomnoi formy meksamina.

Encapsulation of mexamine (5 methoxytryptamine) in large monostratal lecithin-cholesterol liposomes was shown to cause a 1.4-fold reduction of acute toxicity of the preparation and to prolong its radioprotective efficacy from 15 min to 2 h.

[Experimental evaluation of the specific and toxic properties of the liposome form of triombrast (verografin)]. / Eksperimental'naia otsenka spetsificheskikh i toksicheskikh svoistv liposomnoi formy triombrasta (verografina).

In experiments on mice, rats, rabbits and dogs it was found that liposome-incapsulated triombrast administered intravenously possesses specific properties of contrasting the liver and spleen. It accumulates predominantly in these organs and 80% of 125I-labeled triombrast is excreted within the first 24 hours, the rest amount is excreted within the first week. It was also shown that the drug conforms to safety standards of the Pharmacological Committee of the USSR Ministry of Health.

[Cholesterol and phospholipid content of cells sensitive and resistant to ethidium bromide and its alteration in resistant cells as affected by methyltestosterone]. / Soderzhanie kholesterina i fosfolipidov v kletkakh, chuvstvitel'nykh i ustoichivykh k bromistomu étidiiu, i ego izmenenie v ustoichivykh kletkakh pri deistvii metiltestosterona.

The content of cholesterol (Chl) and phospholipids (Phl) in cell lines L and CHO-K1, sensitive and resistant to the toxic action of ethidium bromide, has been studied. EB-resistant cells were shown to have lower amounts of Chl and Phl, and the ratio Chl/Phl in these cells was decreased too. EB-resistant cells, grown in serum-free medium, have dramatically decreased contents of Chl, while compared with the cells growing with serum. Treatment of EB-resistant cells with methyltestosterone in concentration of 3 X 10(-7) M caused the increase in Chl and Phl contents, thus approximating these indices to those of EB-sensitive ones.

[Content of cyclic nucleotides, cholesterol and phospholipids in tumors of the large intestine]. / Soderzhanie tsiklicheskikh nukleotidov, kholesterina i fosfolipidov v opukholiakh tolstoi kishki.

Tissues from tumor and normal intestine were examined in 44 patients suffering from colonic and rectal cancer. The study established elevated levels of cholesterol (chiefly, cholesterol esters) and phospholipids, as compared with normal tissue. Two groups were identified among the cancer patients on the basis of the ratio of K = (Formula: see text). Cases with a relatively low value of K revealed higher levels of body fat and hyperlipidemia. That was matched by relatively higher concentrations of cholesterol and its esters, but not phospholipids, in tumor tissue, as compared with normal one. The relationship between cyclic nucleotide metabolism disorders in neoplastic tissue and lipid metabolism in cancer patients is discussed.

[Relation between the prolongation of the anti-inflammatory activity of liposome-encapsulated hydrocortisone and liposome composition in experimental arthritis]. / Zavisimost' prolongatsii protivospalitel'noi aktivnosti gidrokortizona, zakliuchennogo v liposomy, ot ikh lipidnogo sostava pri éksperimental'nom artrite.

Experiments on rabbits with arthritis have demonstrated the possibility of a 10-fold decrease in the dose of hydrocortisone acetate incorporated into liposomes, administered intraarticularly as compared with a commercial drug in the form of suspension. The antiinflammatory effect was found to be appreciably prolonged (up to 5-6 days) upon the use of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine liposomes with 20 mol% cholesterol. Hydrocortisone had a prolongation effect (about 1-2 days) in the lipid phase of multilamellar liposomes from egg lecithin, dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine and distearoylphosphatidylcholine.

[Specificity of liposome uptake from target cell lipids]. / Spetsifichnost' zakhvata liposom iz lipidov kletok-myshenei.

A more considerable uptake of liposomes (1.5-2 times greater) from lipids of target cells was revealed in the cells of ascites lympholeukemia NKLy/LL and Ehrlich's ascites carcinoma as compared with liposomes from other tumor lipids. NKLy/LL cells uptake liposomes from their own lipids 8 times as effective, whereas Ehrlich's carcinoma cells 3 times as effective as widely applied vesicles from egg lecithin. Evidence is provided that the differences discovered are consequent on the different mechanisms of liposome interaction with the cells. As far as egg lecithin is concerned, the principal mechanism of interaction is endocytosis which is unmarked in these cells. Meanwhile uptake of target cell lipids is effected by the fusion mechanism.

[Enhanced capture by tumor cells of liposomes prepared from autologous phospholipids]. / Povyshennyi zakhvat opukholevymi kletkami liposom, prigotovlennykh iz autologichnykh fosfolipidov.

The trapping of liposomes from native phospholipids by tumor cells was found to be 2-6 times that of egg lecithin vesicles. These differences in the level of incorporation of the two types of liposomes in the course of incubation with ascitic lymphocytic leukemia cells NKLy/LL seem to be due to the different mechanisms of their utilization. Egg lecithin liposomes are trapped via endocytosis which is not highly pronounced in these cells, whereas vesicles from target-cell phospholipids are incorporated by fusion mechanism.

[Use of liposome-bound x-ray contrast substances for the diagnosis of splenic lesions in generalized lymphoma in SJL/J mice]. / Primenenie rentgenokontrastnykh veshchestv, sviazannykh s liposomam, dlia diagnostiki porazhenii selezenki pri generalizovannoi limfome myshei SJL/J.

An X-ray procedure for diagnosis of splenic lesions in sjl/j mice with generalized lymphoma, using verographin contained in liposomes, is discussed. Intravenous injections of the preparation were followed by changes in X-ray pictures of the spleen in 9 out of 21 mice aged 11-13 weeks which were interpreted as total or local lesions. The X-ray diagnoses were confirmed by histological examination. Due to application of the method lesions with diameters down to 1 mm may be detected.