Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Mechanisms of diabetic cardiomyopathy

From a recent review:

Core tip: Diabetic patients develop a cardiomyopathy that is independent of vascular disease, and is thought to develop as a direct result of the prolonged hyperglycaemia. Animal models of diabetes can help us understand the cellular mechanisms that lead ultimately to contractile dysfunction of diabetic cardiomyopathy. The streptozotocin rat model of type 1 diabetes has slowed Ca2+ transients and twitch force kinetics, with reduced myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity. Myocytes are decreased in volume in diabetic hearts, with reduced and disrupted F-actin, and type 1 collagen is increased. Together, these changes all contribute to the reduced contractility of diabetic cardiomyopathy.

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