Effect of dapagliflozin against NAFLD and dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic albino rats: possible underlying mechanisms.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to investigate the effect of dapagliflozin on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and dyslipidemia in type 2 diabetic rats by studying the histopathological structure of the liver and detecting possible underlying mechanisms for this impact by evaluating the potential anti-inflammatory action of dapagliflozin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 100 albino rats were used in this work and divided into five equal groups: group I (Control group), group II (Control diabetic group), group III (was administered dapagliflozin, 0.75 mg/kg, p.o.), group IV (was administered dapagliflozin, 1.5 mg/kg, p.o.), and group V (was administered dapagliflozin, 3 mg/kg, p.o.). RESULTS: In our study, the total body weight, liver weight, liver index, blood glucose level, insulin level, insulin resistance, total cholesterol, triglycerides, liver enzymes, IL-1 ß, and MDA were significantly higher in the control diabetic group than the normal group. The dapagliflozin reduced all the above variables significantly in a dose-dependent manner compared to the control diabetic group (p-value = 0.001 for all). CONCLUSIONS: Dapagliflozin may be a promising novel treatment strategy for treating T2DM-related non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and dyslipidemia where it possesses anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-dyslipidemic effects.

Effects of low dose of aliskiren on isoproterenol-induced acute myocardial infarction in rats.

This study examined the effects of aliskiren (Ali) (direct renin inhibitor) on serum cardiac enzymes (LDH and CK-MB), electrocardiography (ECG) changes, myocardial oxidative stress markers (MDA, CAT, and GSH) and the expression of Bcl2, HO-1, and Nrf2 genes in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI). A total of 40 male albino rats were allocated into four groups, (1) normal control (NC) group, (2) Ali group (rats received Ali at 10 mg/kg/day p.o. for 5 days), (3) ISO group (rats received ISO 150 mg/kg i.p. for two consecutive days at 24 h intervals), and (4) Ali + ISO group (rats received ISO + Ali at 10 mg/kg/day p.o. for 5 days from the 2nd dose of ISO). ISO group showed significant rise in serum cardiac enzymes (CK-MB and LDH), myocardial damage scores, myocardial MDA, HO-1, myocardial Nrf2 expression with significant reduction in myocardial antioxidants (CAT and GSH), and Bcl2 expression compared to the normal group (p < 0.05). ECG showed ST segment elevation, prolonged QT interval and QRS complex, and increased heart rate in ISO group. Co-administration of Ali and ISO caused significant increase in cardiac enzymes and morphology with increase in MDA, serum K, and creatinine with significant decrease in Bcl2, HO-1, and Nrf2 without significant changes in ECG parameters compared to ISO group. We concluded that low dose of Ali seems to exacerbate the myocardial injury in ISO-MI, which might be due to the enhanced oxidative stress and apoptosis.

Photo-Response of Functionalized Self-Assembled Graphene Oxide on Zinc Oxide Heterostructure to UV Illumination.

Convective assembly technique which is a simple and scalable method was used for coating uniform graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets on zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films. Upon UV irradiation, an enhancement in the on-off ratio was observed after functionalizing ZnO films by GO nanosheets. The calculations of on-off ratio, the device responsivity, and the external quantum efficiency were investigated and implied that the GO layer provides a stable pathway for electron transport. Structural investigations of the assembled GO and the heterostructure of GO on ZnO were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The covered GO layer has a wide continuous area, with wrinkles and folds at the edges. In addition, the phonon lattice vibrations were investigated by Raman analysis. For GO and the heterostructure, a little change in the ratio between the D-band and G-band was found which means that no additional defects were formed within the heterostructure.

Influence of homo buffer layer thickness on the quality of ZnO epilayers.

ZnO buffer layers with different thicknesses were deposited on a-plane sapphire substrates at 300 °C. ZnO epilayers were grown on ZnO buffers at 600 °C by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering and vacuum annealed at 900 °C for an hour. Influence of nucleation layer thickness on the structural and quality of ZnO thin films was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Raman spectroscopy. The best ZnO film quality was obtained with the ZnO buffer layer of 45 nm thick which provided the smoothest surface with RMS value of 0.3 nm. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the films have a single phase wurtzite structure with (0001) preferred crystal orientation. As evident from narrow FWHM of ZnO (0002) rocking curve, ZnO buffer can serve as a good template for the growth of high-quality ZnO films with little tilt. In addition, the micro-Raman scattering measurements at room temperature revealed the existence of Raman active phonon modes of ZnO; A1(TO), A1(LO) and E2(high). The latter two modes were not observed in thin buffer layer beside the dis-appearance of E2(low) mode in all films.