(1) Background: The use of electronic cigarettes has become widespread in recent years. The use of e-cigarettes leads to milder pathological conditions compared to traditional cigarette smoking. Nevertheless, e-liquid vaping can cause morphological changes in lung tissue, which affects and impairs gas exchange. This work studied the changes in morphological and optical properties of lung tissue under the action of an e-liquid aerosol. To do this, we implemented the “passive smoking” model and created the specified concentration of aerosol of the glycerol/propylene glycol mixture in the chamber with the animal. (2) Methods: In ex vivo studies, the lungs of Wistar rats are placed in the e-liquid for 1 h. For in vivo studies, Wistar rats were exposed to the e-liquid vapor in an aerosol administration chamber. After that, lung tissue samples were examined ex vivo using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and spectrometry with an integrating sphere. Absorption and reduced scattering coefficients were estimated for the control and experimental groups. Histological sections were made according to the standard protocol, followed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. (3) Results: Exposure to e-liquid in ex vivo and aerosol in in vivo studies was found to result in the optical clearing of lung tissue. Histological examination of the lung samples showed areas of emphysematous expansion of the alveoli, thickening of the alveolar septa, and the phenomenon of plasma permeation, which is less pronounced in in vivo studies than for the exposure of e-liquid ex vivo. E-liquid aerosol application allows for an increased resolution and improved imaging of lung tissues using OCT. Spectral studies showed significant differences between the control group and the ex vivo group in the spectral range of water absorption. It can be associated with dehydration of lung tissue owing to the hyperosmotic properties of glycerol and propylene glycol, which are the main components of e-liquids. (4) Conclusions: A decrease in the volume of air in lung tissue and higher packing of its structure under e-liquid vaping causes a better contrast of OCT images compared to intact lung tissue.

The extract of G. officinalis was separated by five major fractions and the antitumor activity of hydrophobic fractions has been established. For the most active fractions spectral investigations of the main component were performed using UV-Vis electronic spectra, circular dichroism (CD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. On the basis of spectral characteristics, it was demonstrated that the main components of the fractions 4 and 5 of G. officinalis providing its biological activity, highly likely, are of flavonoid nature. Based on the NMR data we propose the structure of the aglycon moiety of the main component from fraction 4 as 4,2’,5’-trihydroxychalcone. The fraction 5 is the most active, the antitumor effect of which is implemented through cytotoxic, cytostatic, apoptotic and autophagosomal activity in respect to human kidney cancer tumor cells.

The possibilities of using fluorescent research methods and their advantages for visualization and determination of the type of programmed cell death of human tumor cells under the action of flavonoids in experiments in vitro were investigated. The object of the study were the tumor cells of cervical cancer HeLa and A498 kidney carcinoma, the flavonoid containing extract of hedge hyssop (Gratiola officinalis L.) was used for testing in the experiments. The following fluorescent methods were used: the "living and dead" test with double staining - - iodide propidium and acridine orange, the method of double staining with annexin and iodide propidium. The confirmation of autophagy induction was performed using Muse cell analyzer with fluorescent reagents MuseAutophagy LC3-Antibody Based Kit. The application of fluorescent staining methods using double staining with acridine orange and iodide propidium in the "living and dead" test compared to phase microscopy allows to visualize the formation of apoptotic cells and autophagosomes in cells and, therefore, can serve as one of the methods of evaluation screening of the effectiveness of various chemotherapy drugs.

The effect of prolonged oral administration of gold nanoparticles of various sizes on the structure of the liver, spleen and lymph nodes of mature laboratory rats and their offspring was studied. The morphometric study was performed using the system of digital image analysis of medical Mikrovizor µVizo-103. The detection of conglomerates of gold nanoparticles in tissues was carried out using the dark field microscopy method. It was found that gold nanoparticles of sizes 2 and 50 nm cause the most pronounced morphological changes in the organs, which indicates the size-dependent character of their effects. In the liver of the group with 50 nm gold nanoparticles administration the expressed dystrophy of hepatocytes and activation of monocytic-macrophage system were observed. In the spleen and lymph nodes, the processes of proliferation and differentiation of immunocompetent cells and macrophages were activated. Oral administration of gold nanoparticles during pregnancy in females was accompanied by an increase in the number of hepatocytes with necrobiotic changes and an increase in the number of non-parenchymatous elements in the liver of the offspring, most pronounced in the groups with the administration of 2 and 50 nm gold nanoparticles.