ION CHANGES IN BLOOD DURING OPISTHORCHIASIS IN EXPERIMENT

Changes in the ionic composition of blood in opisthorchiasis, in the long-term inva-sion, is a current little-studied aspect. The experiment was conducted on rodents (rabbits), of puberty, male. Infection was carried out by oral administration of the metacercariae Opistorchis felineus at the rate of 50 larvae per individual (n = 10), defined in the observation group. The control group consisted of clinically healthy animals (n = 10). After 18 months, a biochemical blood test was performed to de-termine the quantitative indicators of potassium and sodium. Plasma isolation was performed by centrifuging venous blood, then incubated at room temperature for an hour, and the indicators were calculated using an automated hematology analyzer. Statistical data processing was performed using the software package Microsoft Of-fice Exel by calculating the arithmetic average with standard error of the mean. The analysis of intergroup data was carried out using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test for unrelated aggregates with an abnormal distribution, with p ≤ 0.05.It is established that the content of potassium sharply exceeds the normal numerical criteria, the average amount of this ion is 6.932±0.772. When compared with the control, the differences are statistically significant (U = 0, p > 0.05). The amount of sodium in the observation group was 141.4±6.888, which falls within the range of normal values. When compared with the control, the differences are not statistically significant (U = 36, p > 0.05).Thus, when opisthorchiasis in the long-term invasion in rabbits in the experiment, an ionic imbalance is observed, with a predominance of potassium, with normal so-dium content. The established changes can be associated with impaired renal func-tion, angiopathy, general intoxication, provoked by the disease.

A Three-Compartment Pharmacokinetic Model to Predict the Interstitial Concentration of Talaporfin Sodium in the Myocardium for Photodynamic Therapy: A Method Combining Measured Fluorescence and Analysis of the Compartmental Origin of the Fluorescence

To evaluate the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy occurring in the interstitial space of the myocardium, we estimated the interstitial concentration of talaporfin sodium in the canine myocardium by constructing a three-compartment pharmacokinetic model based on measured changes in talaporfin sodium plasma concentration and myocardial fluorescence. Differential rate equations of talaporfin sodium concentration in the plasma, interstitial space, and cell compartment were developed with individual compartment volume, concentration, and rate constants. Using measured volume ratios based on histological examinations, we defined that the myocardial fluorescence consisted of the linear addition of fluorescence generated from these three compartments. The rate constants were obtained by fitting to minimize the sum of the squared errors between the measured talaporfin sodium concentrations and the calculated concentrations divided by the number of data points using the conjugate gradient method in MATLAB. We confirmed that this fitting operation may be appropriate, because a coefficient of determination between the measured talaporfin sodium changes and the calculated concentrations using our equations was 0.99. Consequently, to estimate the interstitial concentration in the canine myocardium, we propose a three-compartment pharmacokinetic model construction methodology using measured changes in talaporfin sodium plasma concentration and changes in myocardial fluorescence.

Low doses of terlipressin and albumin in the type I hepatorenal syndrome

BACKGROUND Hepatorenal syndrome is a pre-renal like dysfunction that generally onsets in cirrhotic patients presenting ascites. MATERIALS AND METHODS We investigated the improvement of renal function in subjects with hepatorenal syndrome after terlipressin administration and the survival times after this treatment. 30 patients affected by cirrhosis, with diagnosis of type I hepatorenal syndrome were treated with intravenous terlipressin plus albumin (group A) or with albumin alone (group B). Liver function, renal function, sodium plasma level and plasma renin activity were monitored. RESULTS Patients of group A showed a significant improvement (p < 0.001) of renal function valued by creatinine rate compared with the results obtained in group B. The probability of survival was higher in the group A (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS Our results seem to confirm that the administration of terlipressin plus albumin improves renal function in patients with cirrhosis and type I hepatorenal syndrome and that a reversal of hepatorenal syndrome is strongly associated with an improved survival.