We studied Molecular mechanisms of the retinoprotective effect of short peptides AEDG and KE. The peptides stimulate differentiation of neurons and retinal pigment epithelium cells and therefore can be considered as potential retinoprotective preparations for the treatment of age-related degenerative changes in the retina.

Analysis of the main principles of classification and development of nutrient media used for culturing of human and animal cells in biology and medicine is presented. The key moments of induction and regulation of mitogenic cascades and their differences in cells of continuous lines, diploid cells, and primary cultures are discussed. Some variants of classification of nutrient media for various cell culture types are described. Peculiarities of composition and the prospects of using serum-free media are discussed. Practical results obtained by the authors in the development of diverse purpose nutrient media are presented.

We studied the effect of natural glucocorticosteroid hydrocortisone on total cell production, cloning efficiency, and expression of genes important for the function of mesenchymal stromal cells. Addition of hydrocortisone to the culture medium reduces the total cell yield by 2 times and significantly increased cloning efficiency by 2-3 times; this effect was more pronounced in multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells obtained from female donors. Hydrocortisone had no effect on the expression of immunomodulatory factors produced by multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. Hydrocortisone inhibits the expression of bone differentiation markers, increases the expression of the early adipocyte differentiation marker at the beginning of culturing, and dramatically stimulates the expression of the late adipocyte differentiation marker throughout the culturing period. The findings suggest that hydrocortisone activates multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells.

We studied the effect of type 1 herpes simplex infection on the production of innate immunity mediators in human vascular endothelial cells in culture. It was found that production of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL.6, and TNF-α in infected cultures depended on the level of their spontaneous production, while IL-8 production was suppressed irrespective of its spontaneous level. Shedding of cell adhesion molecules of early (P-selectin and E-selectin) and late (PECAM-1 and VE-cadherin) phases of leukocyte recruitment depended on individual capacity of human vascular endothelial cell cultures to maintain reproduction of type 1 herpes simples virus. The production of vasodilator NO and vasoconstrictor endothelin-1 by infected cultures also depended on spontaneous synthesis of this transmitter by non-infected cultures.

We studied of osteogenic differentiation of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells from human adipose tissue. Experiments showed that 1α,25-dihydroxycalciferol is a more effective inductor of osteogenesis than dexamethasone. Comparative analysis revealed activation of gene expression for the major osteogenic markers on day 7 of culturing in a medium containing 1α,25-dihydroxycalciferol. It was found that transcription of genes encoding type 1 collagen proteins, osteopontin, osteocalcin, and bone sialoprotein peaked on day 14 in culture, while the expression of alkaline phosphatase and bone morphogenetic protein-2 genes increased over 21 days. Intensive mineralization of the extracellular matrix was observed starting from day 14 in culture. On the basis of the analysis of these data, optimal terms for osteogenic induction (day 14) and an optimal inductor (1α,25-dihydroxycalciferol) were chosen and the protocol of effective osteogenic differentiation of multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells from human adipose tissue was developed for creation of tissue-engineered bone equivalents.

Various calcium phosphate ceramic materials were created and their effect on cultured mesenchymal cells from exfoliated deciduous tooth pulp was evaluated. Tricalcium phosphate ceramics provides best cell survival and is an optimal material for bone tissue engineering. Analysis of the effects of tricalcium phosphate ceramics on osteogenic differentiation of SHED cells suggests that this material potentiated dexamethasone-induced osteogenic differentiation, which manifested in the increased number of ossification foci and enhanced extracellular matrix production by cells. Thus, the tricalcium phosphate ceramics created by us is a promising biomedical material that can be used for tissue-engineered bone analogs.

We studied the effect of intracerebral transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on microcirculation (density of microvascular network and reactivity of arterioles) in the pia mater of 2-3-month-old rats. It was found that after transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells, the density of pial microcirculatory network in the contralateral hemisphere significantly increased (by 1.7 times; p<0.05) in comparison with both intact animals and controls. The number of arterioles in the studied area increased most markedly (by ≈2.5 times; p<0.05) in comparison with other groups. Intracerebral transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells or conditioned culture medium (α-MEM) had no effect on reactivity of pial arterioles.

We studied multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells isolated from the bone marrow of young (1 month) and old (>12 months) rats. The cell cultures derived from old rats were characterized by lower cell yield in the primary culture, lower number of doublings, and reduced colony-forming capacity of precursor cells.

We performed transcriptome analysis of some human induced pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells, and human somatic cells using DNA microarrays. PluriTest bioinformatic system was used for evaluation of cell pluripotency. Changes in the genome structure and status of X-chromosome gene expression was analyzed using microarray technology.

We described a spectrophotometric method for measuring hemoglobin peroxidase activity in human plasma using o-dianisidine (o-DA) as the substrate and myeloperoxidase specific inhibitor 4-aminobensoic acid hydrazide (ruling out the probable contribution of myeloperoxidase to the measured parameter value). The optimal conditions (pH 5.5; 2 mM H2O2) have been determined, at which hemoglobin makes the main contribution to plasma oxidation of o-DA. A significant positive correlation between hemoglobin peroxidase activity measured by the spectrophotometric method and hemoglobin level measured by the pyridine hemochromogenic method has been detected (r=0.624; p<0.01) in plasma specimens from 16 donors. Plasma hemoglobin peroxidase activities were measured in healthy individuals and patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. High plasma hemoglobin peroxidase activities in both groups of patients indicates disorders in the mechanisms of clearance of hemoglobin and its highly reactive derivatives and can serve as specific markers of diseases associated with oxidative stress.