The Institute was organized in 1988 on the basis of the Department of Ecological Physiology and the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry of Ruminants of the Institute of Biology . Total number of workers is 128, including 2 Academicians, 5 Doctors of Science and 20 Candidates of Science. The structure of the Institute includes the Laboratories of Comparative Cardiology, Ecological and Social Human Physiology, Ecological Animal Physiology, Physiology of Digestion of Ruminants, Heart Physiology and the Department of Molecular Immunology and Biotechnology with Laboratories of Glycology, Physiological Tests and Biotechnology. In Kirov there work 2 joint laboratories of the Institute: Cryophysiology of Blood and Physiology of Pathogenic Microorganisms. The Institute actively cooperates with the international scientific institutions. At the Institute there functions the Board for the Defence of Dissertations for a Doctor's and Candidate's Degree.

The basic directions of scientific activity

- ecological physiology of man and animals;

- physiological informativity of electromagnetic fields of functional systems of an
organism;

- physiology of nutrition and reproduction of ruminants in conditions of the North;

- molecular immunology, physiological screening and biotechnology of physiologically
active compounds.

The major results of researches

The computer databank for more than 1500 aboriginals of the Extreme North and newcomers has been formed. The differential norms of parameters of external breath, gas and energy exchange, heart rate, physical work capacity, parameters of electrocardiogram for various sex and age groups have been established. Low negative temperatures cause decrease in minute lung ventilation and oxygen consumption in the inhabitants of the North at the beginning of winter, especially in performing physical exercise. In the process of development of natural seasonal acclimatization the sensitivity of thermoregulation system to cooling tends to increase.

It has been stated that in children living in conditions of the North the threshold level of physical exercise capacity, at which the switching of breath and heart regulation from a volumetric type to frequency one occurs, is lowered that leads to the reduction of efficiency of response reaction of an organism to external impact. By the method of physical exercise testing it has been shown that maximal exercise loadings allow to reveal the latent functional insufficiency in children, and physical exercise of small and average capacity are the most adequate for revealing reserve opportunities of cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Hypertensive reaction of blood pressure to short-term physical exercise has been determined.

A new direction in physiological science - the evolutional electrocardiology that has obtained the international recognition has been suggested, substantiated and developed. Experimentally and with the aid of developed mathematical models it has been shown that cardioelectric field on the ventricular and body surfaces is formed by electric activity of intramural, subendocardial and subepicardial myocardial layers. The dynamics of cardioelectric field on the body surface is formed by the sequence of depolarization and the character of recovery of ventricular excitation of the heart.

"The automated system for registration and analysis of cardioelectric field" has been developed and introduced into practice of physiological experiment that allows to synchronously register cardioelectric potentials on the body and heart surface and in myocardial wall. The system is designated for the study of functional condition of animal and human heart. The experimental model of the "Automated system" was submitted at the exhibition "New devices and methods for diagnostics and therapy" at the session of joint General meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Russian Academy of Arts "Science - to human health" (December 16-19,2003, Moscow).

The hypothesis that the right atrioventricular ring of specialized fibers in bird's heart carries out function of atrioventricular pacemaker has been experimentally proved. The concept of the existence of pacemaker system of heart has been proposed and its functional specificity in comparative-ontogenic aspect has been shown.

The mathematical model of "flash" type activation of heart ventricles has been developed. The potentials on body surface have been calculated in view of real geometrical characteristics of heart and torso of an animal which dynamics corresponds to the distribution of parameters of experimentally registered cardioelectric field.

The method of introduction of human blood leukocytes to the state of cold-anabiosis at moderate-low temperature (-50 C) has been developed. For this purpose a new cryoprotector on the basis of A-378 substance having cold protective properties, the properties of antioxidizer and citric acid promoting restoration of cell energetics after its escaping from reversible cold-anabiosis has been created.

It has been established that dosed muscular exercise on tretban since the first day of life of young cattle promotes the accelerated development of red blood, formation of functions of immune response, resistance of an organism to stress factors. The activation of metabolic processes in the digestive system is characterized by the increase of digestion of nutrients of the ration and absolute and relative growth rates of young animals in comparison with analogous animals on free motion.

Two pairs of isogenic variants of pseudo-tubercular microbe differing by the presence or absence of Y.pestis cells in genome have been obtained and characterized. The methods of extraction of biomass of F1 and B-antigens from them have been developed. The immunobiological significance of these antigens has been estimated and their physical-chemical and immunochemical properties studied.

A general method of extraction of pectinaceous polysaccharides from vegetative raw material of the European North of Russia has been developed, their structural-chemical characteristics have been determined and screening of physiological activity carried out. It has been revealed that the investigated polysaccharides have immune-modulating, hypolipidemic, cardiotropic and cardioprotective effects. It has been established that polysaccharide of Silene vulgaris administered perorally to mice induces formation of oxygen radicals and lysosomal enzymes by intact peritoneal macrophages as well as enhances the respiratory burst initiated by phorbol myristate acitate.