[Anticancer properties of flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas, 1909]. / Protivorakovye potentsii zhgutikovogo prosteishego Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas, 1909.

The anticancer activity of Trypanosoma cruzi has been confirmed by the example of seven strains. Five virulent strains induced the infection, which inhibited sarcoma-180 growth 1.5-22.0 times. The parasites featured tumortropism; i.e., the successfully developed in cancer cells and even preferred them to normal cells. This taxis-based phenomenon was particularly pronounced at cocultivation of the normal and cancer cells. Cultures of the seven (avirulent and virulent) strains can produce an anticancer agent that selectively damages human cancer cells in vitro. The long-term anticancer effect of T. cruzi or preparations from it, as well as possible its cancer preventing effect, has been demonstrated. Three problems are discussed on the basis of the obtained and recently published data: (1) the mechanism of T. cruzi anticancer effect; (2) the nature of the anticancer agent; and (3) the distribution of the considered phenomenon among trypanosomatides. The anticancer activity of T. cruzi may be due to a combination of surface cellular antigens and an inhibiting or lysing factor.

[The antithrombotic and thrombolytic activity of a plasminogen activator isolated from a monolayer cell culture]. / Antitromboticheskaia i tromboliticheskaia aktivnost' aktivatora plazminogena, vydelennogo iz kletok monosloinoi kul'tury.

Plasminogen activator has been isolated from the culture of pig kidney cells by gel-filtration on Sephadex G-75. The plasminogen activator (181.9 MU/200 g body weight) protected the animals against thrombosis hazard in case of provocation by thromboplastin and exerted a thrombolytic effect in case of thrombus appearance.

[The suppression of the contractile activity of the cardiomyocytes by dermorphin in a heart culture of newborn rats]. / Podavlenie sokratitel'noi aktivnosti kardiomiotsitov dermorfinom v kul'ture serdtsa novorozhdennykh krysiat.

Opioid peptides exert ino- and chronotropic effects on the heart. Paraopioid dermorphine (Y-dA-F-G-Y-P-S) was earlier shown to act as negative inotropic agent in isolated frog's hearts. In this study, the same effect was investigated in cultured myocardiac cells of the newborn rats. Dermorphine (10(-4)-10(-9) M) dose-dependently attenuated the contraction amplitude with the latency of 5-10 min. The peak of the response appeared in 30-45 min after application of dermorphine. The mu-opiate-receptor antagonist naloxone (10(-5) g/ml) blocked this effect. Dermorphine seems to exert its negative inotropic action through the opiate receptors, presumably of the mu-subtype.

[Features of ultrastructural changes of tumor cells in tissue culture under the effect of energy metabolism inhibitors]. / Osobennosti izmenenii ul'trastruktury opukholevykh kletok v kul'ture tkanei pri deistvii ingibitorov énergeticheskogo metabolizma.

It is shown that 2,4-dinitrophenol and dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, energy metabolism inhibitors, induce regular specific changes of the HeLa culture cells ultrastructure. Peculiarities of metabolism of the tumor cells as against the normal culture cells cause weaker and slower response.

[Possibility of the long-term fixation of the cells of a HeLa culture without disturbing their ultrastructure]. / Vozmozhnost' dlitel'noi fiksatsii kletok kul'tury HeLa bez narusheniia ul'trastruktury.

It is shown that the composition of fixatives (2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer with pH 7.2-7.4, and the mixture of 2.5% glutaraldehyde with 2% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer with pH 7.2-74) and duration of fixation (30 minutes, 24 hours, 7 days, and 30 days) under the room temperature exerts no influence on preservation of HeLa cultured cells. The ultrastructure of all the organelles of these cells is similar in any cases examined. All the membrane structures are well preserved; no condensation of chromatin is observed; the widths of the canals of endoplasmic reticulum, and of the intracristal and lateral spaces of mitochondria are invariable. Polysomes are present in the cytoplasm throughout the period of fixation.

[Synthesis of sesquiterpene metabolites in a Trichothecium roseum culture]. / Sintez seskviterpenovykh metabolitov v kul'ture Trichothecium roseum.

During the cultivation Trichothecium roseum forms biologically active sesquiterpenes in particular trichothecin and trichothecolon. The quantitative ratio of these compounds in cultural liquid changes depending on the cultivation conditions. The compounds taking part in terpenoids shant specifically increase the synthesis of sesquiterpenes in fungus culture. A possibility of intertransformation of different trichothecenes provides the stability of the fungus-producent to its toxical metabolites. A fermental system carrying out the transformation of trichothecin into trichotecolon has been revealed.

[Polarographic study of cell respiration in a tissue culture]. / Poliarograficheskoe izuchenie dykhaniia kletok v kul'ture tkanei.

A simple procedure for measuring the cells respiration without their transformation into the suspension, is suggested: seven glass slides with the cell culture of PKEV (pork, kidney, embryo, versen) are placed into the polarographic cell. Under these conditions the oxygen electrode easily records the fall of oxygen tension in the polarographic cell due to the respiration of 10(5) cells. Oxygen consumption is linear in time at the O2 concentration within the range from 480 to 200 nanoatoms per 1 ml of medium. The respiration rate is found to be enhanced by uncoupler and suppressed by the inhibitors of the electron flow chain (NaCN, antimycin A, amytal, rotenone) and mitochondrial ATPase (oligomycin and diciclohexylcarbodiimide). The above approach enables to evaluate the mitochondrial respiration of any cell monolayer keeping the cells intact.