Current antiepileptic strategies aim to normalize the interaction of the excitatory and inhibitory systems, which is ineffective in treating patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Neuroinflammatory processes in the epileptic focus and its perifocal area can trigger apoptosis and also contribute to the development of drug resistance. The level of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins (p-NF-kB, TNF-α, p53, FAS, caspase-3, caspase-9) was analyzed in intraoperative biopsies of the temporal lobe gray and white matter in the brain of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. An increased level of pro-apoptotic proteins was revealed in the cortex and perifocal area’s white matter against the background of an imbalance of protective anti-apoptotic proteins. It appears that the activation of the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis occurs in the perifocal area, while in the epileptic focus, there are proteins responsible for the activation of the anti-apoptotic survival pathways. Active neuroinflammation in the epileptic focus and perifocal area of the temporal lobe may contribute to the development of the resistance to antiepileptic drugs and the progression of neurodegeneration in such patients.

It is demonstrated that the absence of the natural day/light cycle has no principal effects on the development of the pineal gland during the first two weeks of postnatal ontogeny. Starting from the 21st day, functional activity of the pineal decreases, particularly under conditions of constant illumination. The shift of acrophase testifies to relative structural stability of the investigated rhythm. Key Words: pinealocytes; protein metabolism; circadian rhythmsEpiphysis is a unique organ whose structure and function are completely changed during the phylogeny of the vertebrates: from a photoreceptor organ to an neuroendocrine transducer [7,8].Some researchers regard the pineal gland in mammals as a circadian biological "clock". At the present time the oscillator of circadian biological rhythms in mammals is often associated with the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus [9,10]. However, anatomical and functional relationships between epiphysis and hypothalamic-hypophyseal complex and retina as well as circadian rhythms in the contents of various biologically active substances revealed in the epiphysis and strong dependence of these rhythms on illumination regimen suggest that together with suprachiasmatic nucleus the pineal gland plays an important role in the development and adaptation of circadian biological rhythms [2,3,5,6]. In this context a thorough study of histogenesis and of the effect of illumination regimen on biological rhythms of the epiphysis [ 1,4] is interesting.Our objective was to compare histogenesis and circadian rhythms of protein metabolism in pinealo-

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