At the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, our journal «Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 16. Biologiya» celebrated two memorable dates – the anniversary of the entire edition and the anniversary of our series. During its long history, the «Vestnik» of the School of Biology of Moscow State University has undergone many changes. The goals for which it was created used to be modified in the last 15 years, and now the journal is no longeran edition to cover the activities of just scientists working at Moscow State University, but is an international edition (the English version is distributed by the Springer Nature publishing house) and is open to publications by authors from any scientific institutions both in Russia and other countries. Despite the difficulties that any university editions face, such journals can still develop and occupy their niches among scientific periodicals. Like Chinese scientific editions of the kind, our domestic journals are now continuously working to gain worldwide recognition. In the future, all scientific periodicals are likely to continue to change and transform, the task of university journals is to be in time to develop along with new technologies, taking into account the experience of foreign editions and not forgetting their own rich history.

One of the conceptual issues of modern ecology, including research on the ecosystems of water bodies, is concerned with the question how natural ecosystems can sustainably and harmoniously function without a central controlling agent. The present work contains literature data and the authors’ own findings that provide evidence for an important regulatory role of chemical factors that perform the function of neurotransmitters in the nervous systems of animals. Special attention is given to biogenic amines and related compounds that represent one of the main subgroups of neurotransmitters. The facts considered in this work indicate that such substances are characterized by a wide spectrum of signal functions in diverse components of aquatic ecosystems, including the microbiota, phytoplankton, invertebrates, higher plants, and fish. Of paramount importance is the involvement of such neurotransmitters in the regulation of the functioning of whole ecosystems. Such ecosystem-level regulators are not only synthesized and released into the environment by various components of aquatic ecosystems but also introduced into them as human-made pollutants.

In 2020, the Ministry of Health of China added Dendrobium officinale, Ganoderma lucidum, Gastrodia elata, Cornus officinalis, Eucommiae ulmoides, Cistanche deserticola, Astragalus membranaceus, Panax quinquefolium, Codonopsis pilosula to the list of approved medicinal plant raw materials. It was found that aqueous extracts of E. ulmoides, C. deserticola and C. officinalis have the overall values of the total antioxidant activity; and G. elata and D. officinale extracts were the least efficient among all tested plants. The performed regression analysis showed a correlation between the total content of phenolic compounds in the extracts and the total antioxidant activity (r=0.67, p=0.039). In all used test systems, E. ulmoides extract had the most effective antioxidant properties.

The effect of course administration (orally, once a day, during 2 and 3 weeks) of the nonselective cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor diclofenac sodium (1 and 5 mg/kg) and selective COX-2 inhibitor etoricoxib (1 and 10 mg/kg), 2-ethyl-6-methyl-3-hydroxypyridine succinate (mexidol, 25 mg/kg) and combinations of this non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, 1 mg/kg) and mexidol on arterial pressure, hematological indices and body weight of rats was evaluated. Blood pressure increase in rats is observed after three weeks of NSAID administration. Etoricoxib at both doses increases the systolic and diastolic pressure, while diclofenac sodium at a dose of 5 mg/kg affects diastolic pressure only. Mexidol prevents blood pressure increase when administered in combination with etoricoxib. Administration of NSAIDs at maximum doses for two weeks was associated with an increase in certain groups of leukocytes. In addition, diclofenac sodium increased the number of platelets and induced iron deficiency anemia, which is a symptom of NSAID-induced enteropathy. Both NSAIDs negatively affect weight gain in rats, with diclofenac sodium having a more pronounced effect. The combination of diclofenac sodium and etoricoxib with mexidol does not enhance the negative effects of NSAIDs on hematological parameters and weight gain in rats.

The study investigated the effect of the major fermentation enzyme – pyruvate formate lyase – on hydrogen photoproduction by green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under mineral deprivation. Cultures of the wild type (CC-125) and mutant pfl1 without pyruvate formate lyase activity were incubated on a medium without sulfur in the sealed photoreactors under constant illumination for 96 h. During experiment, accumulation of hydrogen in gas phase of photoreactors and factors affecting hydrogen production, such as photosynthetic activity, respiration, and starch content in cells were assessed. Both strains showed similar photosynthetic activity and starch content when cultivated in the complete medium. Under sulfur depletion, the cultures of the pfl1 mutant began to evolve hydrogen later than the wild type; however, this process lasted much longer in the mutant. The pfl1 cultures showed higher rates of starch accumulation and breakdown at the initial and late stages of sulfur deprivation, respectively. Moreover, the mutant was characterized by higher photosynthetic activity at the later stage of starvation. The obtained results indicate close relationships between photosynthetic electron transport, hydrogenase reaction, carbohydrate metabolism and fermentation process, pointing to the prospect of using genetic engineering to modify fermentation reactions in order to improve photosynthetic hydrogen production in biotechnology.

For the first time since 1994, in March–November 2017, the dynamics of the structure and abundance of phytoplankton was studied at different depths in the White Sea. The abundance of algae varied from 3.8∙10⁶ to 3,519∙10⁶ cells/m³. Phytoplankton biomass ranged from 0.2 to 90 mg C/m³ and, with some exceptions, was the highest in the surface layer of the water column (0–5 m). The algal abundance and biomass integrated throughout the water column varied from0.2∙10⁹ to 68.5∙10⁹ cells/m² and 0.01 to 1.38 g C/m², respectively. Two peaks of phytoplankton biomass were identified – in early May after the ice removal and in early September. The summer peak of biomass recorded by previous studies in the surface layers in July has not been observed, which was caused by the dominance of smaller nanoplankton prasinophyte and cryptophyte algae and dinoflagellates. The change of dominant species may be related to the general tendency of decrease of the contribution of large species and increase of the heterotrophic component in phytoplankton in conditions of more pronounced stratification of the water column caused by the climate warming.