[Clinical and laboratory features of severe forms of acute viral hepatitis B]. / Kliniko-laboratornye osobennosti tiazhelykh form ostrogo virusnogo gepatita B.

AIM: To establish the clinical and laboratory features of severe forms of acute viral hepatitis B (AVHB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 141 patients (88 males and 53 females) with different forms of the disease were examined. Among them there were 30, 33, and 78 patients with mild, moderate, and severe AVHB, respectively. In 23 patients, the course of hepatitis was complicated by acute hepatic failure; 6 of them developed hepatic coma that resulted in death. All the patients underwent comprehensive clinical and biochemical studies; some of them did a special laboratory study including immunological monitoring, determination of some parameters of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the antioxidative system (AOS) in the blood cells, examination of blood rheological properties (by the deformability and viscosity of erythrocytic biomembranes), and determination of the level of endogenous toxemia by the content of medium molecular-weight peptides in the plasma, red blood cells, and urine. RESULTS: Pathogenetic features of severe forms of AVHB have been identified. These include: 1) a hyperimmune response to the invasion of mixed cellular and humoral virus, followed by hepatic macrophageal hyperactivation; 2) high activity of LPO with the development of AOS failure; 3) deterioration of erythrocytic rheological properties: the decreased deformability and increased viscosity of their biomembranes; 4) the maximal level of endogenous toxemia. CONCLUSION: New agents to enhance the efficiency of treatment of patients with severe AVHB should be sought in the following directions: immunomodulating, antioxidative, membrane-stabilizing, and disintoxicant ones.

Perftoran as a means modulating the functional activity of liver macrophages.

Experiments on mice showed that perfluorocarbon emulsion Perftoran modulated phagocytic activity of liver macrophages (evaluated by LD50 for Salmonella typhi endotoxin and the rate of elimination of Chinese ink particles from the bloodflow). Phagocytic activity was suppressed for 3 days after injection of 10 mg/kg emulsion, but then increased above the control. Perftoran had a favorable impact on the course of experimental hepatitis in a model experiment based on hyperactivity of Kupffer cells. Perftoran virtually prevented the development of severe hepatitis after prophylactic injection and notably attenuated hepatocyte cytolysis when used as therapeutic mean.

[The role of mononuclear phagocytes in the immunopathogenesis of HIV infection]. / Rol' mononuklearnykh fagotsitov v immunopatogeneze VICh-infektsii.

The functional state of HIV-infected monocytes in 153 persons aged 20-59 years was studied. It was characterized by an increase in the production of monokines (TNF-alpha, IL1 beta) at stages IIB-IIIA, pronounced activation of the synthesis of DNA at stages IIB-IIC of the disease due to mass intracellular production of viral proteins. At the same stages an increase in the activity of lactate dehydrogenase and a decrease in the activity of succinate dehydrogenase were noted, which was indicative of an increase in the intensity of the process of anaerobic oxygenation at early of infection with the simultaneous decrease of the intensity of the tricarbon acid cycle and the subsequent suppression of the immunoregulating properties of monocytes.

[The adaptation of the human immune system during an ecological disaster]. / K probleme adaptatsii immunnoi sistemy cheloveka pri ékologicheskoi katastrofe.

This article studies the adaptative mechanisms of the immune system of servicemen in the Aral Sea region in response to the influence of unfavourable xenobiotic factors of the environment. The greatest homeostatic shifts were disclosed in servicemen of the 2nd and the 4th periods of service (6 months and 2 years of active duty correspondingly). Precisely these periods of selective service have the highest infectivity index. It is recommended to measure the volume of catabolic products of cell receptors (P-proteins) in order to obtain an integral index which could characterize the adaptative mechanisms of the immune system during the screening of servicemen in the conditions of unfavourable environment.

[A method of determining subpopulations of B-lymphocytes using a flow cytometer]. / Metod opredeleniia subpopuliatsii B-limfotsitov na protochnom tsitometre.

A method was developed for measuring human B-lymphocyte subpopulations with a flow cytometer making use of monospecific porcine antisera to FITC-labeled human immunoglobulins. The results of B-lymphocyte measurements with the traditional fluorescent microscopy and the suggested flow cytometry were in high correlation.