A system of immunoenzyme analysis using biotinylated monoclonal antibodies for typing hantavirus antigens

Enzyme immunoassay with biotin-labeled monoclonal antibodies to Puumala virus was used for typing hantavirus antigens. The system is type-specific, that is, it detects Puumala virus only, which was demonstrated by typing 9 hantavirus antigens in infected Vero E5 cells and by epizootological analysis of an HFRS outbreak in the Yegoryevsk district of the Moscow region in November-December 1995. The suggested system may be used as an element of EIA screening of natural samples in analysis of the screening results.     

Inactivation of alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase during oxidative decarboxylation of alpha-ketoadipic acid

alpha-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase was inactivated irreversibly and completely during oxidation of alpha-ketoadipic acid. The inactivation was revealed both in the model system with ferricyanide and in the overall reaction catalyzed by the alpha-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. Neither substrate depletion nor product accumulation induced the inactivation. The results obtained were compared with recent data on the enzyme inactivation during oxidation of alpha-ketoglutaric acid. The differences in the inactivation kinetics observed with the two substrates of the enzyme were analyzed. They seem not to reflect the different mechanisms of the inactivation, but, rather, depend on the changes in the rates of the individual stages of the process.     

Biochemical study of lipids in adrenals altered by putrefaction (the forensic medical diagnosis of stress)

Biochemical method of lipid extraction with hexane permits the diagnosis of functional exhaustion of adrenals resultant from prolonged stress using both fresh material and that changed by putrefaction when histologic and histochemical methods of investigation are useless. These data may be used in examinations of putrescent corpses to assess thanatogenesis and establish the cause of death.     

Morphological effects in rats following a 22-day space flight

A morphological examination of 27 rats flown onboard the biosatellite and sacrificed on the 1st-2nd and 26-27th postflight days demonstrated no significant changes in the structural organization of the vital organs and systems of the animal body. It was, however, found that the space exposure induced morphologically detectable changes in the musculo-skeletal system, hemo- and lymphopoiesis, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system and the juxtaglomerular apparatus of the kidneys. The changes were reversible and nonspecific, and could be seen in animals exposed to ground-based hypokinetic and other stress experiments. Postflight the animals developed some reactions that were similar to those in humans. This helps to identify the morphological substrate of certain changes in the human body and to investigate their pathogenesis.