[Comparative EEG-study of normal and autistic children].

The work represents the results of a comparative study of a spectral power as well as averaged coherence in theta and gamma-EEG band in a healthy and autistic boys (the mean age 6 years 1 month). Healthy boys showed a decreasing in theta spectral power as well as in averaged coherence, and increasing in gamma spectral power as well as in averaged coherence during cognitive task. Spectral power of gamma band shows more high scores in autistic boys than in normal ones. Cognitive task situation do not change spectral power of the fast oscillations in autistic children. Spectral power of theta--band shows more low scores in autistic boys than in normal ones. Cognitive task situation do not change spectral power and averaged coherence of theta oscillations in autistic children.

[Adolescents under conditions of chronic family stress].

The influence of the type of the nervous system on psychophysiological stress reaction was studied in a group of adolescents at the age of 15-17 years with chronic stress. Adolescents with the weak type of the nervous system were to a greater extent subject to psychological disorders; adolescents with the intermediate type of the nervous system suffered more from disorders in physiological sphere, whereas persons with the strong type appeared to be most stable in the situation of chronic family stress.

[Features of the spectral power of the EEG rhythms in autistic children and their relation with the progress of different symptoms in schizophrenia].

Right hemispheric dominance of the baseline alpha-band spectral power was revealed in 5-7 years boys with autism. This feature persisted during performance of a cognitive task (counting). Also, boys with autism showed lowered level of the alpha spectral power as compared with healthy children. In healthy children, the gamma spectral power increased during performance of the cognitive task as compared to baseline state. Autistic persons showed higher values of the gamma spectral power as compared with normal boys. Boys with autism showed less expressed changes in the gamma spectral power during the cognitive task than healthy children. The reduced spectral power of the alpha band in autistic boys may serve as a precursor of conversion from autism to schizophrenia. Higher level of the gamma spectral power in autistic boys is characteristic also of schizophrenic patients with positive symptoms. Lowered levels of fast rhythms reactivity revealed in autistic boys and the same effect earlier described in schizophrenic adults probably have the similar nature.

[Comparative EEG study in normal and autistic children].

The work represents the results of a comparative study of spectral power as well as averaged coherence in alpha, beta and gamma EEG bands in 5-to-7-year-old autistic and healthy boys in the state of rest and under cognitive load (mental calculation). The mean age of the examined children was 6 years 4 months. In both healthy and autistic children, there was a clear-cut baseline frontal-occipital gradient of the alpha activity. Performance of the cognitive task led to enhancement of spectral power in the alpha1 band and shifting its maximum to the left hemisphere, did not change the activity in the alpha2 band, and considerably increased the spectral power in the alpha3 band. In healthy children, the spectral power and average coherence of the fast rhythms increased in the central and frontal areas of the left hemisphere. The right-side dominance of the spectral power of the alpha band was revealed in autistic children both in the baseline and during cognitive task. The spectral power of the gamma band was higher in autistic children than in healthy children in the baseline. The cognitive task did not change this fast activity in autistic children.

[Comparison of parameters of stress and trait anxiety in teenagers who are brought up in full, incomplete families, and families with the replaced parents].

166 teenagers in the age of 15-17 years were investigated on the influence of socially adverse conditions of education upon the level of trait anxiety and presence of stress. Teenagers who were brought up in socially unsuccessful conditions (in family with registered cases of alcoholism, violence, suicide, etc.; in family of relatives; with trustees) and also teenagers who were brought up in incomplete families show higher level of trait anxiety (even if initially they have low congenital parameters of neurotism) and more expressed stress both on psychological and physiological level in a greater degree than teenagers from family with mother and stepfather. Teenagers living in family with stepfather have parameters of anxiet similar to teenagers living in complete families.

[Comparison of parameters of stress and trait anxiety scores in teenagers brought up in socially favorable and socially adverse conditions].

The influence of social deprivation on the level of trait anxiety and stress was studied in the group of 85 teenagers at the age of 15-17 years. Teenagers brought up in socially adverse conditions reveal higher scores of trait anxiety and greater stress, both at the psychological and physiological levels.

[Study of trait anxiety in children with different profiles of lateral organization after early social deprivation]. / Issledovanie lichnostnoi trevozhnosti u detei s razlichnym profilem lateral'noi organizatsii pri rannei sotsial'noi deprivatsii.

School behavior and learning were examined in 68 right-, lefthanded, and ambidextral 10-12-year-old children earlier exposed to social deprivation. Socially deprived children revealed stress and high trait anxiety. "Imposed lefthandedness" is considered to be an important factor responsible for the high level of trait anxiety. In the group of socially deprived children persons with sanguinic temperament showed the lowest, and melancholies showed the highest levels of trait anxiety as compared to the control group.

Expression of beta-Secretase mRNA in the brain of rats with immunohistochemical destruction of basal forebrain cholinergic system.

We studied properties of cloned BACE mRNA (beta-site of the enzyme cleaving amyloid precursor protein) and evaluated the possibility of using this clone for identification and/or prediction of neurodegenerative disorders associated with cholinergic deficiency. Wistar rats subjected to immunohistochemical destruction of the basal forebrain cholinergic system were used as the experimental model. Nonradioactive in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical visualization of the astroglia revealed strong hybridization signal of BACE mRNA in neurons of the cortex, hippocampus, and thalamus. Astrocytes remained unstained. Immunohistochemical destruction of the basal forebrain produced no significant changes in the distribution of BACE mRNA.

[Local destruction of Deiters' lateral vestibular nucleus (an experimental model of a focal brain stem lesion)]. / Lokal'noe razrushenie lateral'nogo vestibuliarnogo iadra Deistersa (éksperimental'naia model' ochagovogo porazheniia stvola mozga).

The experimental rat model of the local brainstem destruction by isolated electrical coagulation of the lateral vestibular nucleus Deiters was offered for studying the adaptive-compensatory CNS reactions after acute brainstem lesions. Morphological changes and functional derangements were correlated in 22 animals. Neurological disorders and behavioural reactions were reproducible and stable in rats with exact localization of coagulated foci. The results demonstrate the adequacy of the proposed model.

[The comparative efficiency of exploratory and conditioned-reflex feeding behaviors: the relative improvement in the former and the lag in the latter in amygdalectomy in rats]. / Sravnitel'naia éffektivnost' poiskovogo i uslovnoreflektornogo pishchevogo povedeniia: otnositel'noe uluchshenie pervogo i otstavanie vtorogo pri amigdaléktomii u krys.

Food-taking behaviour of two groups of rats (normal ones, N, and those with amygdalar lesions, AL) was compared to each other in two experimental situations: running to the feeding-cup in a new situation and the same after the learning procedure. In the first case the efficiency of food-taking behaviour was found to be higher in AL rats than that in N rats. On the contrary, in the second situation, the efficiency of food-taking was lower in AL rats. This difference was supposed to be connected with two factors: motivation (in a new situation) and mastering the environment (after learning). It was assumed that after AL the rats with a deficit of analytical-synthetic process became primarily oriented towards inborn programs. A sudden increase of food reinforcement resulted in AL rats in a reduce of feeding activity and an increase of general activity resembling much the effect of 5-HT in the limbic system.

Features of the establishment of the spontaneous activity of neurons of the trigeminal sensory nuclei of viable sections of the rat brainstem in postnatal ontogenesis.

An attempt was made to characterize the features of the development of the neurons of the sensory trigeminal nuclei, a basic structure of the sensory support of alimentary behavior, in the late stages of postnatal ontogenesis. A technique involving viable sections of the brainstem of infant rats at the ages of two, four, and eight weeks was utilized. An increase with age in the number of neurons possessing spontaneous activity (44% at two weeks; 69% at eight weeks), an increase in the frequency of discharges, the appearance by the fourth week of a population of cells with high-frequency spontaneous activity, and an increase in the number of such neurons by the eighth week. Three types of background-active neurons were distinguished: episodic, continuous, and group; and the dynamics of the change in the ratios of these types with age was demonstrated. Significant changes with age were not found in resting potentials, although a tendency to its increase takes place between the second and eighth weeks of postnatal development.

[A comparison of the take of embryonic amygdala and visual cortex transplants in the rat brain in connection with the possible compensation of functional disorders]. / Sopostavlenie prizhivleniia transplantatov émbrional'noi amigdaly i zritel'noi kory v mozge krysy v sviazi s vozmozhnost'iu kompensatsii funktsional'nykh narushenii.

Transplantation of embryonic (E17-18) visual cortex and amygdala was performed into corresponding damaged areas of the adult rat brain. It was shown in Nissl and Golgi preparations (by comparing qualitative and quantitative findings) that 2-6 months after operation the grafts were successful in case of putting them into the corresponding brain areas (cortex to cortex, or amygdala to amygdala). Graft's integration resulted in a selective increase of dendrite length and ramification towards the area of graft-host interface both in amygdala and visual cortex grafts. In case of inadequate graft-host integration the stratification of the grafted visual cortex could be observed. The structural reorganization of grafted neurones is compared with physiological and behavioural findings during the recovery processes in damaged brain.

[The characteristics of the formation of spontaneous neuronal activity in the trigeminal sensory nuclei of surviving slices of rat brain stem in postnatal ontogeny]. / Osobennosti stanovleniia spontannoi aktivnosti neironov trigeminal'nykh sensornykh iader perezhivaiushchikh srezov stvola mozga krysy v postnatal'nom ontogeneze.

An attempt was made to characterize the development of neurones of sensory trigeminal nuclei--basic structure of sensory provision of alimentary behaviour at late stages of postnatal ontogenesis. The method of the brain-stem slices of rat pups [correction of ratlings] aged 2.4 and 8 weeks was applied. An increase with the age was shown of the number of neurones with spontaneous activity (44%-2 weeks; 69%-8 weeks), growth of discharges frequency, appearance of cells population with high-frequency spontaneous activity by the fourth week and an increase of such neurones number by the eighth week. Three types of background-active neurones were singled out: episodic, continuous and group; the dynamics of correlations change of these types with the age was shown. No significant changes of rest potential with the age were found, though there was a tendency to its increase between the 2-nd and 8-th weeks of postnatal development.

[The structural characteristics of the dendritic apparatus of transplanted neurons from the embryonic amygdala]. / Osobennosti stroeniia dendritnogo apparata transplantirovannykh neironov émbrional'noi mindaliny.

Two main neuronal classes were studied in the grafts of basolateral nucleus of the rat embryonic amygdala stained by the Golgi method--sparsely and densely ramified cells. Transplantation resulted in the increase of dendrite length and ramification of sparsely ramified cells, in the decrease of cell body size and increase of ramification of densely ramified cells. The analysis of polar histograms of the dendritic orientation shows the selective increase of dendrite length and ramification of the both neuronal classes. The dendrites of the intact neurons of basolateral amygdala are distributed almost regularly, they do not display any dominant orientation. After transplantation the main orientation to the area of graft-host integration appears. The changes in dendrites are discussed with respect to the ability of the graft to take part in compensation of the damaged brain functions.

[Can the function of the extirpated amygdaloid complex be compensated for by the transplantation of embryonic nerve tissue?]. / Mozhno li kompensirovat' funktsiiu udalennogo mindalevidnogo kompleksa mozga putem transplantatsii émbrional'noi nervnoi tkani?

In 20 white rats bilateral coagulation of the amygdalar complex was produced; on the fifth day to one half of them transplantation was performed by introducing stereotaxically on the left side 0.2-0.5 mm3 of the brain embryonal tissue from the corresponding area of the amygdala of 20-days embryo; in control saline was administered. After two months the rats were sacrificed to determine the activity of antiradical defense by superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the level of lipids peroxide oxidation (LPO) in the cerebral cortex. The transplantation decreased LPO even more and increased SOD as compared to amygdalectomy, e. i. caused still greater deviations from the norm (in this meaning--paradoxal effect), what apparently corresponds to intensification of adaptative-compensatory processes caused by amygdalectomy. The transplantation did not reverse the rats behaviour to the initial one and did not eliminate memory defect in the test of conditioned reaction of passive avoidance (like pyrazetam); it had different direction influence on "drinking under current" in conflict situation, only in particular cases approaching it to the norm.