[VIBRIO CHOLERAE CHITINOLYTIC COMPLEX:THE COMPOSITION AND THE ROLE IN PERSISTANCE].

Reviewed the paper are the composition and functions of Vibrio cholerae chitinolytic complex which play an important role in the maintaining and creating new forms of vibrios in the environ- ment, it is better adapted to survive in environmental.

[System of activation of plasminogen in Vibrio cholerae].

AIM: Study system of activation of plasminogen in Vibrio cholerae. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 75 strains of V. cholerae of various origins were used in the study. Plasminogen was isolated from human plasma by using affinity chromatography on L-lysine sepharose, alpha-enolase activity was determined by a direct method assuming transformation of 2-phosphoglycerate into phopshoenolpyruvate. Vibrios were destroyed by ultrasound disintegrator to isolate membrane Omp protein, intact cells were discarded by centrifugation and cell lysate was centrifugated for 1 hour at 105000 g. The precipitate was solubilized in buffer with 1% triton X-100 and passed through a column with DE-52 cellulose. RESULTS: Vibrio cholerae O1 and O139 strains isolated from clinical specimens and water samples from open water bodies had the ability to bind by using alpha-enolase and transform human plasminogen into plasmin under the effect of outer membrane protein OmpT A protein with molecular weight around 40 kDa had proteolytic activity with a wide specter of substrate specificity, degraded fibrin, gelatin, collagen, protamine and activated plasminogen. Computer analysis showed that OmpT protein of cholera vibrion had a low degree of relation with Enterobacteriaceae omptins. CONCLUSION: The study carried out showed that vibrios have a system of activation of plasminogen that includes at least alpha-enolase and OmpT membrane protein. OmpT protein is assumed to belong to a new class of porins of Vibrionaceae family and its enzymatic activity may play a significant role in pathogenesis of infection.

[Fisiological aspects of host--microorganisms interreaction: the role of neurotransmitter amines].

Ability to use catecholamines as a stimulus for growth and pathogenic activity realization is widespread among bacteria. In the review numerous facts testifying the ability of these substances to stimulate pathogenic microflora development are systematized and mechanisms of growth stimulation and change of genes expression of microorganisms by catecholamines are considered. The microbial endocrinology role in shaping integrative physiological concepts is discussed.

[The detection of capability of Vibrio comma to activate human plasminogen in vitro].

The article discusses the technique of defining the strains of comma bacillus according their capability to convert human plasminogen into plasmin in vitro. This method can be implemented in applied and fundamental research concerning the study of subtle mechanisms of pathogenesis and colonization of intestines under cholera.

[Effect of serotonin and dopamine on growth of Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis strains].

AIM: To study the effects of serotonin and dophamine on the growth of Yersinia pestis and Francisella tularensis strains as well as ability of monoamines to change susceptibility of experimental animals to plague infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Effect of various doses of biogenic amines on the growth of Y. pestis and F. tularensis was studied by biophotometer "BIO-LOG II" (F ISABIO, France). When studying the effect of amines on LD50 value and mean survival time, serotonin and dophamine were administered to mice peritoneally in dose 25 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg respectively before their inoculation with Y. pestis suspension. RESULTS: It was shown that one-time addition of serotonin (2.5 - 40.0 mcM) to medium for cultivation of Y. pestis and F. ularensis strains did not significantly affect the bacterial growth both at cultivation temperature 28 degrees C and at 37 degrees C. At the same experimental conditions dophamine stimulated growth of bacterial cultures accelerating the onset of exponential phase of culture growth. Administration of serotonin for 1 hour before inoculation of mice with Y. pestis EV-76 strain increased LD50 value and decreased mean survival time; in contrast, administration of dophamine decreased LD50 value and increased mean survival time. CONCLUSION: Data on stimulating effect of dophamine on agents of transmissible infections allow to propose that physiological state of an organism as well as medical administration of catecholamines could influence on susceptibility of the host to infection and determine the septic course of the disease.

[Retrospective VNTR-analysis of genotypes of Vibrio cholerae 01 strains isolated, during the 7th cholera pandemic, in Rostov Region]. / Retrospektivnyi VNTR-analiz genotipov shtammov Vibrio cholerae 01, vydelennykh na territorii Rostovskoi oblasti v gody VII pandemii kholery.

Antiplague Research Institute, Rostov-on-Don, Russia Retrospective multi-locus VNTR-analysis was made for 166 Vibrio cholerae strains isolated, 1967-2001, in Rostov Region from clinical samples (82 strains) and from water samples (84 strains). On the basis of cluster analysis of heterogeneous identification strain genotypes, 45 variations of individual strains were shared between 11 separate clusters, among which the F cluster vibrios were predominant. Having emerged, 1970, in the region, they were widely spread during the 1973-1975 cholera pandemic and were registered, among the isolated strains, till 1992 indicating the possibility of long persistence of V. cholerae 01 in the natural aquatic environment. Presumably, the ecosystem specificity contributed to the long-term vibrio persistence.

[Vibrio cholerae O139 isolated from humans and the water from open reservoirs: a comparative genotyping]. / Vibrio cholerae O139, vydelennykh ot liudei i iz vody otkrytykh vodoemov: sravnitel'noe genotipirovanie.

The comparative study of the genomes of V. cholerae O139 isolated from humans and from water of surface reservoirs was carried out with the use of single- and double-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The profiles of polymorphic DNA fragments obtained in this study made it possible to find out differences between groups of strains, as well as the individual features of some of them. The comparison of strains isolated from humans and from water in single-primer PCR revealed that they, in spite of the general similarity of their genomes, essentially differed, which was probably due to changes in the genome of this infective agent. Strains of aqueous origin lacked genes ctx and tcpA, which made them epidemiologically unimportant.

[Noncultivatable forms of Francisella tularensis]. / Nekul'tiviruemye formy Francisella tularensis.

Conditions for the appearance of F. tularensis uncultivated forms and for their reversion into the initial state have been studied. As revealed in this study, the combined influence of stress factors (starvation and low temperature) may result in the transition of F. tularensis into the uncultivated state in which it persists in the environment during the period between epidemics. The reversion of F. tularensis uncultivated forms into the initial state has been carried out with the use of sensitive animals. The uncultivated state of F. tularensis should be regarded as the actual form of the existence of the causative agent of tularemia in soil and water ecosystems.

[Database on nucleotide sequences used as primers of microorganisms]. / Baza dannykh o nukleotidnykh posledovatel'nostiakh, ispol'zuemykh v kachestve praimerov mikroorganizmov.

The data base (DB) "Primers of microorganisms" for the accumulation and systematization of information on oligonucleotide sequences, used as primers in polymerase chain reaction, has been created. This DB includes data on primers for the laboratory diagnostics of 20 bacterial genera (Aerococcus, Aeromonas, Bartonella, Borrelia, Burkholderia, Chlamydia, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Escherichia, Francisella, Helicobacter, Legionella, Listeria, Mycobacterium, Mycoplasma, Salmonella, Shigella, Staphylococcus, Vibrio, Yersinia) and 6 viral families (Arenaviridae, Flaviviridae, Hepadnaviridae, Herpesviridae, Picornaviridae, Retroviridae). DB contains data on 145 pairs of primers and 530 bibliographic sources. The retrospective depth of DB is 10 years (1987-1996), and it is replenished as new Russian and foreign documented sources of information arrive.

[The protective activity of the adhesion pili of Yersinia pestis]. / Izuchenie protektivnoi aktivnosti pilei adgezii Yersinia pestis.

Y. pestis adhesion pili (AP) in the native form and in the subunit form, used for immunization in one or two injections in a dose of 12-100 mu g on aluminum hydroxide, did not protect white mice and guinea pigs from experimental Y. pestis infection. The study revealed that AP produced a pronounced cytotoxic effect on macrophages and practically no influence on leukocytes. This result was confirmed in the study of luminol-dependent chemiluminescence and in the analysis of 5'-nucleotidase activity of phagocytes. These data make it possible to regard AP as Y. pestis antimacrophagal pathogenicity factor.

[Primers for the genus-specific detection of Francisella tularensis in the polymerase chain reaction]. / Praimery dlia rodospetsificheskogo obnaruzheniia Francisella tularensis v polimeraznoi tsepnoi reaktsii.

Primers for the detection of F.tularensis in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been obtained. The method of PCR permits the identification of up to 10 F.tularensis cells in the analysis of pure and mixed cultures, as well as suspensions prepared from the organs of laboratory animals. The possibility of the simultaneous analysis of several samples makes this system for the detection of F.tularensis useful for epidemiological investigations.

[Comparative characteristics of biological properties of Francisella tularensis strains isolated in the USSR]. / Sravnitel'naia kharakteristika biologicheskikh svoistv shtammov Francisella tularensis, vydelennykh na territorii SSSR.

With a large collection of the strains of F. tularensis isolated it has been recently shown that cultures belonging to holarctica and mediaasiatica circulate in the endemic foci of the USSR. By their biological and genetic properties the natural strains of F. tularensis were homogeneous and represented type cultures of F. tularensis. Various ecological conditions in the natural environment did not change within the last 20 years the sensitivity of the tularemia microbe to the antibacterial drugs.

[Ultrasonic study of the liver, spleen and their large veins in patients with chronic post-infarct aneurysm of the left ventricle]. / Ul'trazvukovoe issledovanie pecheni, selezenki i ikh krupnykh ven u bol'nykh s khronicheskoi postinfarktnoi anevrizmoi levogo zheludochka.

Computerized echotomography demonstrated abnormal structure or size of the liver, the spleen or major hepatic and splenic veins in all patients with left ventricular chronic postinfarction aneurysm. Notably, congestion of the greater circulation can be detected instrumentally at a preclinical level. Flow impairment in the vena cava inferior affects acoustic properties of blood which can be detected by ultrasound.

[Ultrasonic diagnosis of post-infarct aneurysms of the left ventricle]. / K voprosu ob ul'trazvukovoi diagnostike postinfarktnykh anevrizm levogo zheludochka.

Ultrasonic sectorial scanning in combination with doppler-cardiography enables visualization of left-ventricular postinfarction aneurysm, and the assessment of myocardial contraction geometry, the state of the aneurysm wall and blood flow characteristics. Doppler-cardiography is capable of detecting blood stasis in the left-ventricular cavity, while sectorial scanning can diagnose intraventricular thrombosis. Both techniques should be used extensively for the detection of left-ventricular postinfarction aneurysms.