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The most specific method of the recording of the rate offree radical reactions is the method of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, but it is rarely used in applied biology due to expensive equipment and complexity of the execution of measurements. However chemists have found a number of colored organic radicals which lose the coloring under transition into diamagnetic form. In the given paper there are presented results of our studies on the development of methods for the assessment of oxidant equilibrium in biological media with a use of stable radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and cation-radicals of N,N-diethyl-p-phenylenediamine (DEPPD). We have developed the new modification of DPPH test, replacing methanol-based incubation medium by non-ionic detergent solution, compatible with native blood serum. Modified DPPH test conserved typical biphasic kinetics of the origin variant, had the similar sensitivity to model antioxidants (IC values 49, 38 and 13 mkMfor ascorbate, a-tocopherol and quercetine, correspondingly) and was applied in experiments on laboratory animals treated with nano- and ionic silver, carbon nanotubes, microfine coal and electrolytic dust. We have tried also the assay of serum lipid hydroperoxides based on Fe-initiated DEPPD oxidation (Alberti et al., 2000). The comparison of kinetics of DEPPD oxidation in model (HO/Fe) and biologic (rat serum/Fe) systems, before and after Fe addition, seems to be an evidence that ceruloplasmin (CP) was involved in the resulting process, but failed to determine its polynomial kinetics, at least for the rat serum and DEPPD excess. The use of CP monoclonal antibodies seems to be the best way for the clarification of the mechanism of this reaction.

There are discussed the changes of an array of indices of the oxidative status in chronic administration of colloidal calcium carbonate preparation with faucet and low-mineralized drinking water to rats. Slight differences between significant effects of administration of 3 and 30 mg/L of preparation permit to suggest that the process of its incoming delivery into organism of rats has a bottleneck in the nature of total capacity of macrophages of intestinal lymphoid tissue to absorption of particles.

Chronic 6-month experiment was carried out in rats, which received drinking water with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), diameter of 15-40 nm, length ≥ 2 mkm) or activated charcoal (AC, diameter of 10-100 mkm), blood samples of the animals were used for assessment of biochemical markers. Both coal compounds induced the appearance of signs of oxidative stress 2 weeks after the beginning of the experiment and alteration of serum markers of liver and renal damage, as well as changes of cortisol and protein serum concentrations later Thus, despite of known high (asbest-like) inhalation toxicity of carbon nanotubes in comparison with other carbon allotrops (fullerenes and black carbon), we have found similar effects of MWCNTs and carbon microparticles in orally treated rats.

A comparative analysis of the effect of silver nanoparticles (SNP) with a diameter of 14 nm and silver sulfate (SS) on biochemical indices of the state of the organism under the administration of preparations with drinking water to mice F1 CBAxC57Bl (from 0.1 to 500 mg Ag/l for 2 weeks) and nonlinear rats (from 0.01 to 5 mg Ag/l within 6 months) has been performed In the experiment on mice there was found an increase in activity of glutathione reductase (GR) in erythrocytes under the administration of both drugs and reduction of antiradical activity of serum--under the introduction of SNP only. The administration of low doses of SNP in the experiment on rats caused much less pronounced changes in serum markers of the state of the liver; kidneys, protein and lipids metabolism in comparison with equivalent doses of the SS, that as a whole with the qualitative differences on GR activity in erythrocytes satisfactorily was explained by activation of phagocytic cells with nanoparticles. Thus, for the first time the SNP biological effects in animals were shown to be caused both by the exposure to solubilized Ag+ ions and by the response of cells to the surface of the nanoparticles themselves.

In the paper there are presented the results of a study of anxiety and balance ofparts of autonomous nervous system in healthy children 5-7 years old, residing in different parts of Magnitogorsk. It is shown that state of heightened and high alert was shown to be more common among children living on the left bank of the Urals river around the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Integrated Plant. In these children an imbalance in the work of the parts of the autonomic nervous system was detected more frequently, at that shifts were observed mainly in the direction to ergotropic tone. At the same time balanced work of the parts of the autonomic nervous system was observed more frequently in children living on the right bank of the Urals river. Discovered psychosomatic features of examined children turned out to be associated with both the social characteristics of family lifestyle and the emotional stress of parents, and the contents of some organic compounds in total snow samples collected in the territories of kindergartens which they attended. One ofthe most significant results ofthe work we consider the detection of a correlation relationship between emotional stress of parents and activity of key enzymes in their children, reflecting the protective and adaptive reactions of the organism. On the basis of these and previously obtained data, we suggest that social and psychological factors of the family are not only a potential source of maladaptation of the child, but, probably, can have an impact on the stability and sensitivity of the genome of children.

New biomarkers of effect of some controlled ambient air pollutants (formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and TSP) were found in two surveys of Moscow residents (apparently healthy and outpatients with allergic diseases) with a help of screening system of biochemical and immunological parameters. Possible mechanisms of the effects, including interference of atmospheric carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide with corresponding endogenous second messengers, are discussed.

Factor analysis of cross-sensitization to 24 common allergens and correlation analysis of the relationship between the hypersensitivity to the allergens and some biochemical markers (the intensity of serum chemiluminescence, the content of SH-groups, and the activity of lysosomal enzymes) of the health status were carried out in a sample of Moscow residents with allergic diseases. A significant correlation was found between the serum levels of specific IgE antibodies to pollen allergens and the activity of serum acid DNAase (R = 0.498; p = 0.009; N = 67). The revealed regularity may be used to devise a test for the differential diagnosis of pollenoses and suggests that there are possible differences in the levels of apoptosis and cytogenetic damages between patients with pollenoses and those with other allergic diseases.

Petroleum and its transformation products accumulated in soil along multiple trophic chains enter the human body, which increases the risk of environmentally induced diseases. A thirty-day experiment studied the cutaneous effect of different doses (4250, 850, and 425 mg/kg) of sunflower oil-emulsified petroleum. Its sensitizing and allergic effects were studied on albino guinea pigs. The activity of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase and catalase was determined in the sera of non-inbred male albino rats. Petroleum given in a dose of 4250 mg/kg was found to have a negative effect. When its bioeffect occurred, a protective adaptive response of the body revealed in early stages gave way to tension of its adaptive capacities.

The paper provides the first fragment of a multiparameter study analyzing the influence of environmental pollution, the social and psychological features of a family, and some endogenous factors on genome stability and sensitivity in a developed ferrous metallurgy town. It also gives data on the urine and serum activity of the lysosomal enzyme N-acetyl-b-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) and the serum activity of catalase in an organized contingent of apparently healthy children (n = 178; 6 kindergartens) aged 5-7 years, who live permanently in Magnitogorsk at different distances from the metallurgical works. More than 70% of children selected for examination were found to have average normal levels of activity of the enzymes studied. According to the average levels of enzyme activity, there were only 2 kindergartens (both from the left-bank region). In the children from the left-bank area, enzyme activities varied more greatly, which suggests the higher prevalence of tense adaptation. Correlation analysis revealed association between the children's serum activity of enzymes and some components of snow pollution. It is anticipated that the found changes in serum activities of N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase and catalase may be determined by individual differences in a child's response to ambient air pollutants.

The biological action of the drinking waters containing different deuterium levels (7, 30, 60, 90, 250, and 1000 mg/l) on the activity of N-acetyl-b-D-glucosaminidase, catalase, the content of triglycerides in the serum and liver was studied in a chronic (12-month) experiment on outbred albino mature male rats. The animals taking the water containing 145 mg/l of deuterium were chosen as a control group. The biochemical studies showed the negative effect of the waters on some links of the organism's defense of the organism. The most pronounced changes were noted in the group of animals taking the water containing 1000 mg/l of deuterium.

The experimental study of the biological activity of the modified calcium chloride produced by a Volgograd plant and that of ash-and-slag of the pharmaceuticals resulting after combustion of a pyrolytic mixture of filtration burning could establish various hazards of these substances.

The results of experimental investigations to evaluate the adverse effects of metal-containing industrial waste on warm-blooded animals are presented. Acute experiments assessing the toxicity of industrial waste were not shown to be informative. Long-term exposure to different industrial wastes was found to have varying toxicity at the cell, organ, and body levels.

The pregnant rats were treated with formaldehyde (0.5 mg/kg daily per os) during whole period of pregnancy. The activity of cytochrome-c-oxidase, malate dehydrogenase, nucleotidase, glucose-6-phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase, N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminidase, beta-galactosidase, H(+)-ATPase, glutamate dehydrogenase, NAD- and NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and content of protein in liver celts of offsprings (newborns, 2 weeks age and 2 months age) were studied. It was shown differences in development enzyme systems of control and experimental animals during ontogenesis.

The authors performed a comparative biochemical study of some enzymes of lysosomic origin (hyaluronidase, N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase, beta-glucosidase, beta-galatosidase and acid phosphatase), of the state of enzyme substrate system N-acetylneuraminic acid---aldolase of neuramic acid and of the activity of lactatedehydrogenase (soluble in cytosol and bound on mitochodria) in the liver, lungs and blood serum of rats at various regimens of the inhalation action of CCl4. On the basis of results obtained they determined the biological importance of the change of activity of enzymes differently localized in cells at the adaptation of an organisme to the noxious action of CCl4.