Diabetes Secretly Rewires Heart Structure, Boosting Failure Risk

Researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, studied donated human hearts and found that diabetes disrupts how heart cells produce energy, weakens the muscle's structure, and triggers a buildup of stiff, fibrous tissue that makes it harder for the heart to pump.

These effects were most pronounced in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy-- the leading cause of heart failure.

The findings, published in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, can help explain why people living with diabetes face a much higher risk of developing heart failure.

"We've long seen a correlation between heart disease and type 2 diabetes, but this is the first research to jointly look at diabetes and ischemic heart disease and uncover a unique molecular profile in people with both conditions," said Dr. Benjamin Hunter, from the School of Medical Sciences.

"Our findings show that diabetes alters how the heart produces energy, maintains its structure under stress, and contracts to pump blood. Using advanced microscopy techniques, we were able to see direct changes to the heart muscle as a result of this, in the form of a build-up of fibrous tissue," he added.

To better understand how diabetes affects the heart, the researchers studied heart tissue from both transplant recipients and healthy individuals. This direct examination allowed them to see how diabetes influences heart biology in real human patients rather than relying solely on animal models.

The results showed that diabetes is more than a co-morbidity for heart disease. It actively accelerates heart failure by interfering with essential biological processes and reshaping the heart muscle at the microscopic level.

"The metabolic effect of diabetes in the heart is not fully understood in humans," said Hunter.

In healthy hearts, energy is mainly generated from fats, with glucose and ketones also contributing. Previous research has shown that glucose use increases during heart failure. However, diabetes interferes with this process by reducing how sensitive heart cells are to insulin.

- IANS