The purpose of this work was to study the effect of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) on the morphological and functional alterations in pancreatic islet beta-cells in rats with diabetes induced by alloxan (150 mg kg(-1), i.p.). UDCA (40 mg kg(-1), i.g.) was administered daily from the fifth to the 35th day after the alloxan treatment. The treatment of diabetic rats with UDCA improved the pancreatic morphology disturbed by the alloxan treatment: UDCA increased the number of pancreatic islets and beta-cells, the beta-/alpha-cell ratio and decreased the number of alpha-cells. As the morphometric data suggest, the treatment of diabetic animals with UDCA significantly increased the area of beta-cell cytoplasmatic granules stained by paraldehyde-fuchsin. The concentration of blood glucose in diabetic rats was gradually decreased after the UDCA treatment, and at the end of the experiment reached the control value. The treatment with UDCA raised the serum insulin level in diabetic rats about 2.5-fold, but this concentration was significantly lower as compared to the control group. The content of lipid peroxidation end-products, hydroxyalkenals and malondialdehyde, was significantly elevated in the alloxan-treated rats, whereas the treatment with UDCA normalized these parameters. The present data indicate that UDCA acts as an effective antidiabetic agent in alloxan-induced diabetes and its beneficial effects in diabetic rats can be related to the antioxidant properties of UDCA.
We investigated the magnetic and transport characteristics of second generation high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes with an ordered array of antidots. We have performed modification of HTS GdBa2Cu3O7−δ industrial tape produced by SuperOx (Russia) using femtosecond laser exposure. We have created a local lattice of defects with the period 50 μm and the size of every hole up to 1 μm. We studied the dependence of the critical current on magnetic field and the angular dependence of the critical current. The influence of the array of artificial defects on the pinning force was shown in a wide range of magnetic fields. Transport and magnetization measurements reveal that these modifications of HTS tapes increases the trapped magnetic field and the critical current. The local increase in the critical current reaches 49%. These enhancements of the critical current have been observed in the intermediate angles. The proposed method of antidot arrays by laser drilling can be used for local modification of HTS tapes, and can improve the current-carrying characteristics of industrial tapes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.