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An oligomer proantocyanidine complex (OPCC) isolated from the aqueous-and-alcoholic extract Kalifen and a polyphenol complex (PPC) isolated from the eleutherococcus extract were tested for their effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the rat liver under acute stress caused by hanging up of the animals by the cervical fold for 22 hours. This acute stress was accompanied by decreases in aerobic glycolysis and pentose cycle and by an increase in lipolysis. Hepatic etherifying function impaired. Lipids became predominant energy substrates. The administration of OPCC and PPC during stress promoted the preservation of carbohydrate metabolic reactions (gluconeogenesis, pentosephosphate pathway, Krebs cycle) and to the decrease of lipolysis. OPCC was shown to have stress-protective properties and to be able to diminish adrenal hypertrophy, to increase the production of oxidized equivalents (NAD+), and to enhance the activity of G-6-PDH in the rat liver. The complex is superior to the well-known antistress agent eleutherococcus, which makes it possible to regard these drugs as possible promising drugs in preventive and rehabilitative medicine.

The comparative study was carried out to estimate hepatoprotective activity of the preparation "Eklikit", that represents the extract from the Shizandra chinensis crests and reference hepatoprpotector "Legalon" under acute alcohol intoxication. It was found that "Eklikit" posseses membrane protective and expressed hepatoprotective activity. "Eklikit" exceeds the reference hepatorpotector, "Legalon", in its ability to increase the oxidized form of NAD+ and reduced glutatione, cholesterol ethers and reduce the time of thiopental sleep. In other cases "Eklikit" was equally effective to "Legalon".

The study evaluated the effects of a complex of oligomer proanthocyanidines derived from the crowns of the grapes Vitis vinifera on the oxidation of ethanol and on the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase in the plasma of male volunteers given ethanol once, as well as in the rat liver during long-term alcohol use. Oligomer proanthocyanides were shown to be actively involved in the human and animal metabolism of ethyl alcohol in vivo. Under their action, the reductase activity was preserved, which prevented acetaldehyde from accumulating in the body since it reduces to less toxic ethanol. Oligomer proanthocyanidines from the crowns of the grape may be used to prevent a significant toxic effect of excess doses of ethyl alcohol on the body.

The effect of a set of oligomeric anthocyanidins, isolated from viburnum, produced on the indices of lipid metabolism, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and on the hepatic antioxidant system in rats, who were subjected to the impact of carbon tetrachloride (CTC), was studied versus such effect exerted by preparations "Piknogenol" and "Legalon". The set of oligomeric anthocyanidins had a pronounced antitoxic and antioxidant action preventing the development of fat infiltration of the liver. The discussed preparation inhibited the processes of LPO, it normalized the level of antiradical hepatic activity and had a pronounced glutathione-saving effect, which is preconditioned by the biological activity of oligomeric anthocyanidins (traps for free radicals). The preparation can be used in prevention and treatment of toxic hepatic lesions.

Diprim, a polyphenol preparation from crests of Far-Eastern grape species, influences the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in liver of rats subjected to stress. The drug possesses antistress properties determined by the biologically active natural polyphenol derivatives. Playing the role of a buffer redox system under the stressed conditions, the polyphenol structures provide for the possibility of retaining the carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in rat liver and creating a reserve of the oxidized form of nicotinamide NAD+ coenzyme, which favors removal of the tissue hypoxia. The antioxidant properties of polyphenols from diprim preserve the phospholipid spectrum of the plasmic membranes of hepatocytes.

The effects of Diprim, a natural polyphenol complex isolated from Amur grapes crest, on lipid metabolism, lipid peroxidation (LPO), and antioxidative system of the liver were studied in ethanol-treated rats. Diprim injected to animals during ethanol abstinence arrested stress and thus inhibited lipolysis in fatty tissue and prevented triglyceride accumulation in the liver. Ethanol-suppressed metabolic reactions of the liver concerned with the synthesis of phospholipid fractions (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylserine) were restored. Diprim promoted inhibition of LPO processes (the level of malonic dialdehyde decreased) and a pronounced glutathione-saving effect, which is largely due to its components--polyphenols which capture free radicals.

The paper deals with the study of the preventive effect of the plant drug Korrda-K on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism in the liver of the rat exposed to acetone inhalation. The agent was found to have hepatic and membranous protective effects. On exposure to acetone, Korrda-K promotes the normalization of blood glucose levels and other biochemical parameters. The magnitude of changes in the composition of lipids and fatty acids suggests that the preventive use of the agent favours the preservation of the membrane structure of hepatocytes changed by acetone.

The content of lipids and fatty acids was measured in lung tissue of intact rats and animals with lung edema caused by nitrogen oxide or adrenaline. Lung edema was found to involve disagreement between the phospholipid and fatty acid spectra and to increase the permeability of membranes. The toxic and adrenaline-induced edemas were found identical as regards the type of changes in the ratio of fractions of neutral lipids, phospholipids, and fatty acid spectrum, that is, these shifts represent a nonspecific reaction of lung tissue to aggression.

Hepatoprotective effect of natural substances obtained from extracts of grape combs, leaves of green and black tea were studied in liver tissue of ethanol-consuming rats by means of evaluation of the neutral lipid fractions and phospholipids as well as by measurement of glucose and nicotinamide coenzymes NAD+ and NADP in blood. In all the animal groups treated with these vegetable extracts content of total phospholipids, decreased after the ethanol treatment, was increased, while fraction composition of phospholipids and of neutral lipids was normalized; in blood content of glucose, NAD+ and NADP approached to control values. These results suggest that the vegetable extracts studied exhibited the hepatoprotective effect in alcohol intoxication.

Comparative data of phospholipids and fatty acids contents in erythrocytes of the people working in the North after the single uptake of ethanol are given. The increase of the fatty acids saturation index in all groups was noted. The modifications of the polyunsaturated fatty acids from omega-6-series for Europeans and omega-3-series for Mongolians was also found.

The phospholipid compositions of 11 organs and tissues of rabbit (brain, heart, lung, liver, muscles, kidney, spleen, bone marrow, pancreas, adrenula, and blood plasma) were comparatively studied by micro-thin-layer chromatography. Total lipid extracts of liver and brain are the most abundant in phospholipid (61,8% and 56,3%, respectively) and that of bone marrow and spleen are the poorest (1,6% and 7,1%, respectively). All the organs and tissues, except blood plasma, contain phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl serine, phosphatidylinositol, sphingomyelin and diphosphatidylglicerol; the majority of organs contain phosphatidic acid. Lyso-phosphatidyl-choline was detected in blood plasma, bone marrow, adrenula and liver. Phosphatidylglicerol was found only in the lungs. Brain has the lowest content of phosphatidyl choline (34,3%) and the highest contents of phosphatidyl ethanolamine (36,2%) and phosphatidyl serine (12,6%), whereas the heart is the richest in DPG (about 11%). Diphosphatidyl glycerol is the most abundant in the heart (approximately 11%) and phosphatidyl inositol-- in the adrenula (8,1%). Plasma is found to have a high content of choline-containing lipids; however, phosphatidyl serine and phosphatidic acid are absent altogether. Some of the organs and tissues have a similar phospholipid composition; namely brain and kidney, spleen and bone marrow, adrenula and liver.

Changes in the content and composition of lipids in the gonads of the Strongylocentrotus nudus females during the annual cycle of their development were studied. The qualitative composition of lipids was shown not to change. There were found cerebrosides, sulfatides, free fatty acids, diphosphatidyl glycerine, phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl inositol, phosphatidyl serine, lysophosphatidyl choline, lysophosphytidyl ethanolamine, phosphatide acid, sphingomyelin and non-identified phospholipids X1 and X2 in the gonads. The relative content of individual classes of phospholipids suffers marked changes. The similarity in the content of total lipids and their individual classes at the 2nd and 5th stages confirms the existence of two generations of oocytes (Gnezdilova, 1971). The relationship between the lipid composition and the morphological state of the gonads with respect to the stage of development is discussed.