Left ventricular deformation associated with cardiomyocyte Ca(2+) transients delay in early stage of low-dose of STZ and high-fat diet induced type 2 diabetic rats.

Background In the early stage of diabetes, the cardiac ejection fraction is preserved, despite the existence of the subclinical cardiac dysfunction to some extent. However, the detailed phenotype of this dysfunction and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. To improve our understanding of this issue, we used low-dose STZ and high-fat diet to induce type 2 diabetic models in rats. The effects and the mechanism associated with the early stages of the disease were analyzed.