Cardiac Dysfunction In Diabetes Research Articles

The ACE-inhibitor captopril improves myocardial perfusion in spontaneously diabetic (BB) rats.

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of inhibition on angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) of myocardial function and perfusion of the rat impaired by diabetes. Spontaneously diabetic rats were treated with the ACE-inhibitor captopril for 4 months. Cardiac performance was analysed in the isolated heart perfused at constant volume. Epicardial perfusion was determined by measuring changes in epicardial fluorescence after injection of a bolus of fluoresceinisothiocyanate-dextrane (3 kDa) as described previously. As compared to untreated diabetic controls, captopril prevented the increase of end diastolic pressure, coronary perfusion pressure and vascular resistance. The intravascular volume was enlarged and the epicardial perfusion rate increased in hearts of diabetic rats treated with captopril as compared to diabetic controls. Treatment of diabetic rats with the ACE-inhibitor captopril (1) increases the number of perfused capillaries, and (2) can partly prevent the development of cardiac dysfunction in diabetes. Together with morphological data demonstrating an inhibition of interstitial and perivascular fibrosis in hearts of diabetic rats treated with captopril, our data suggest that ACE-inhibition is cardioprotective in diabetes. These observations are also compatible with the assumption that an accelerated generation of angiotensin II may be involved in the pathophysiological chain of events leading to diabetic cardiopathy.

Protective effects of propionyl-L-carnitine on cardiac dysfunction in diabetes

Protective effects of propionyl-L-carnitine on cardiac dysfunction in diabetes

Radionuclide assessment of left ventricular function in patients with mycardial infarction and diabetes mellitus

The aim of this study was to compare left ventricular function, assessed by radionuclide angiocardiography, in 54 diabetics and 194 non-diabetics with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The most meaningful results concern the inferior AMI group, whose left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and regional wall motion were significantly lower in diabetics than in non-diabetics (LVEF was 44.2 +/- 11 vs. 51.6 +/- 9%, P less than 0.005; the regional wall motion score was 0.46 +/- 1 vs. 1.56 +/- 1, P less than 0.01, respectively), while no significant difference was observed in the anterior AMI group. However, in the group as a whole, the LVEF was 41 +/- 13% in diabetics and 47 +/- 13% in non-diabetics (P less than 0.01), the number of abnormally contracting segments was 2.0 +/- 0.9 and 1.5 +/- 1, respectively, and the wall motion score was 0.2 +/- 1.1 and 1.0 +/- 1.4, respectively (P less than 0.01). These data could be explained by an underlying cardiac dysfunction in diabetes, in addition to AMI. The more marked difference between diabetics and non-diabetics in inferior AMI might be related to the smaller infarct size in this group.

Cardiac function during stress testing in long-standing insulin-dependent diabetics.

Four dynamic tests of cardiac function were compared in a group of 13 long-standing insulin-dependent diabetics who had no clinical evidence of cardio-respiratory disease. One patient developed abnormal features during 24 hour ambulatory electrocardiograms while all 13 patients had normal exercise electrocardiograms. The change in left ventricular ejection fraction during dynamic supine exercise as measured by gated blood-pool scintigraphy was not significantly different from control subjects (p less than 0.1) while during cold stimulation testing the change in left ventricular ejection fraction in the diabetics was highly significantly different from the control subjects (p less than 0.01). Five of the patients had one or more abnormal tests of autonomic function. The cold stimulation test may be a sensitive index of cardiac dysfunction in diabetics but as the mechanism is unclear alternative explanations are possible. While the etiology of heart disease in such patients is uncertain it is likely to be multifactorial and this test may prove useful in investigating the natural history and pathogenesis of cardiac disease in diabetics.