title: In rats the duration of diabetes influences its impact on cardiac autonomic innervations and electrophysiology.
abstract: Diabetic cardiac autonomic neuropathy (DCAN) may cause fatal ventricular arrhythmias and increase mortality in diabetics. However, limited data are available with regard to the precise changes in cardiac autonomic denervation after diabetes onset. In this study, we dynamically observed the progression of DCAN and its relationship with the inducibility of ventricular arrhythmias in diabetic rats. Rats were randomly divided into normal control and diabetes mellitus (DM) groups. The rats were sacrificed at 3 or 6 months post-treatment. Heart rate variability and programmed electrical stimulation were used to assess the electrophysiological characteristics and the inducibility of ventricular arrhythmias in the animals. Immunohistochemistry and real-time RT-PCR were used to measure choline acetyltransferase and tyrosine hydroxylase-positive nerve fibers and the corresponding mRNA expression levels in the proximal and distal regions of the left ventricle. Short-term diabetes resulted in distal myocardial parasympathetic denervation with sparing of the proximal myocardium. By 6 months, both parasympathetic and sympathetic denervation were further aggravated. Moreover, electrophysiological experiments demonstrated a sympatho-parasympathetic imbalance and an increase in ventricular arrhythmia inducibility in the diabetic rats. These results suggest that DM causes cardiac nerve denervation, relative sympathetic hyperinnervation and inhomogeneous neural innervations, which may be associated with an increase in the induction of ventricular arrhythmia in diabetic rats.
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China.
authors: Yong-Li
authors: YL
authors: Xuan
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan 250014, PR China.
authors: Ye
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan 250014, PR China.
authors: Mei
authors: M
authors: Xue
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan 250014, PR China.
authors: He-Sheng
authors: HS
authors: Hu
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan 250014, PR China.
authors: Wen-Juan
authors: WJ
authors: Cheng
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China.
authors: Xin-Ran
authors: XR
authors: Li
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Yin
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China.
authors: Na
authors: N
authors: Yang
authors: Department of Cardiology, Qianfoshan Hospital of Shandong Province, Jinan 250014, PR China. Electronic address: yansuhua5537@163.com.
authors: Su-Hua
authors: SH
authors: Yan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology; D001786:Blood Glucose; D001835:Body Weight; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase
keywords: Cardiac autonomic neuropathy; Diabetes mellitus; Sympatho-parasympathetic innervations; Ventricular arrhythmias