Том 7, № 6 (2017)

Radiation neurobiology is an interdisciplinary field of science studying the effect of radiation on the nervous system at different levels of its organization (biochemical, molecular, cellular, and system), including higher integrative brain activity, influence on health, and efficiency of protection measures against ionizing radiation. A review of studies on the influence of cosmic irradiation on cells and tissues of the central nervous system with the use of photons, X-ray and γ-ray radiation, as well as heavy ions in doses of less than 2 Gy obtained in modern accelerators, is presented. Useful information is given on the higher doses of radiation at which earlier, unstudied biological reactions arise. Special attention is paid to the latest research related to the use of a spectrum of particles and doses corresponding to cosmic irradiation. This review is based on the results of contemporary works of foreign authors that are little known in our country.

The formation of intraspecies chromosome polymorphism in the course of evolutionary changes in the structure of ranges due to global climate changes is studied by the example of the common shrew, Sorex araneus L. The proposed model for the distribution of Robertsonian translocations in populations and their fixation in glacial refugia makes it possible to explain the origin of contemporary chromosome races without the hypothesis of the participation in evolution of whole-arm reciprocal translocations (WART) in evolution.

There are several embryophyta species with huge mitochondrial genomes, whose sizes exceed a million base pairs. We overview some common features of huge mitochondrial genomes: multiple chromosomes, increase in noncoding DNA, and loss of transfer RNA genes. These genomes arose in different evolutionary lines of Angiosperm plants via different processes: horizontal gene transfer from phylogenetically distant species to the ancient plant Amborella, DNA exchange between nucleus and mitochondrion in cucumber and melon (Cucumis, Cucurbitaceae), and recombination disturbance in Silene species (Caryophyllaceae).

This paper examines specific characteristics of changes in clinical and laboratory parameters associated with some clinical forms of asthma in the stages of exacerbation and remission and demonstrates the efficacy of differential immunotherapy in patients. The observations were made on 175 patients suffering from mixed, exogenous, and endogenous asthma, asthma and COPD overlap syndrome, and asthma accompanied by atopic dermatitis in exacerbation and remission; they received standard treatment, as well as its combination with hypoxen and sodium nucleinate. The study also involved 30 healthy, one-time donors. An evaluation was made of five clinical, 13 hematological, and 19 immune system parameters in patients before and after treatments by state-of-the-art techniques. The application of methods of mathematical analysis helped to identify laboratory markers for the disorders, determine targets for “correction,” and characterize the clinical and laboratory response to the differential treatment. It has been established that the severity of clinical and laboratory abnormalities depends on the pathogenesis, stage of COPD progression, and asthma sensitization; thus, the nature of immunopathology was shown to play a primary role. Quantitative laboratory indications have been determined for the selection of a type of immunomodulator based on inversion analysis of the key parameters of formulas for immune system correction.

A system analysis of the published data on antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECAs) was performed. The AECAs target antigens on endothelial cells are characterized, the methodology of revealing AECAs is described, and the role of antibodies in the pathogenesis of processes caused by the activation/dysfunction of endothelium is considered. The review summarizes the present-day results of Russian and international studies published in the last 25 years in the Pubmed, High Wire, and e-Library databases. The characteristics of natural and disease-associated AECAs (related to pathology) and mechanisms of their influence on cells in different pathologies are presented.