[Immunoactive peptide obtained from the optical ganglia of squid]

The data on the effect of a peptide from the squid optic ganglia named gangliin on some parameters of animal natural resistance are presented. It was shown that the prophylactic use of the peptide in mice 24 hours before their contamination with the lethal dose of E. coli protected 40 to 60 per cent of the animals from death. Gangliin accelerated elimination of E. coli from the host and increased the absorptive and digestive activity of the macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. With the use of gangliin it was possible to correct the phagocytosis defects in infectious processes having the phagocytic protection mechanism. Moreover, gangliin was supposed to be efficient in control of long-term persistence of various microbes in the cells of the system of mononuclear phagocytes.