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Trace elements in diabetic cardiomyopathy: An electrophysiological overview
Nihal Ozturk1, Yusuf Olgar, Semir Ozdemir
1Nihal Ozturk, Yusuf Olgar, Semir Ozdemir, Department of Biophysics, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, 07070 Antalya, Turkey.
Insights
Diabetes Mellitus causes heart dysfunction. Trace elements like vanadium, selenium, zinc, and tungstate show promise in treating diabetic cardiomyopathy by regulating glucose and reducing oxidative stress.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Diabetes Mellitus is linked to a distinct cardiomyopathy, independent of vascular disease, causing significant global morbidity and mortality.
- Diabetic cardiomyopathy impairs cardiac performance, specifically early diastolic and late systolic function, likely due to altered regulatory protein activity (e.g., Na+/Ca2+ exchanger, SERCA2a).
- Current therapeutic strategies for diabetic cardiomyopathy are limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the potential therapeutic effects of specific trace elements on diabetic heart complications.
- To explore the mechanisms by which trace elements may counteract diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on trace elements and their impact on diabetes and cardiac function.
- Discussion of the biological effects of vanadium, selenium, zinc, and tungstate relevant to diabetic cardiomyopathy.
- Analysis of proposed mechanisms including insulin-mimetic activity, antioxidant properties, and regulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis.
Main Results:
- Trace elements are increasingly recognized for their anti-diabetic effects, including glucose homeostasis regulation and oxidative stress reduction.
- These elements can exert insulin-mimetic and antioxidant activities, making them potential candidates for treating diabetes-induced cardiac complications.
- Trace elements modulate organ function as enzyme components and regulate cardiac ion channels and [Ca2+]i homeostasis via antioxidant properties.
Conclusions:
- Vanadium, selenium, zinc, and tungstate warrant further investigation for their therapeutic potential in managing diabetic cardiomyopathy.
- Understanding the specific roles of these trace elements may lead to novel treatment strategies for diabetes-related heart disease.
Abstract:
There is a growing body of evidence that Diabetes Mellitus leads to a specific cardiomyopathy apart from vascular disease and bring about high morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Recent clinical and experimental studies have extensively demonstrated that this cardiomyopathy causes impaired cardiac performance manifested by early diastolic and late systolic dysfunction. This impaired cardiac performance most probably have emerged upon the expression and activity of regulatory proteins such as Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger, sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase, ryanodine receptor and phospholamban. Over years many therapeutic strategies have been recommended for treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy. Lately, inorganic elements have been suggested to have anti-diabetic effects due to their suggested ability to regulate glucose homeostasis, reduce oxidative stress or suppress phosphatases. Recent findings have shown that trace elements exert many biological effects including insulin-mimetic or antioxidant activity and in this manner they have been recommended as potential candidates for treatment of diabetes-induced cardiac complications, an effect based on their modes of action. Some of these trace elements are known to play an essential role as component of enzymes and thus modulate the organ function in physiological and pathological conditions. Besides, they can also manipulate redox state of the channels via antioxidant properties and thus contribute to the regulation of [Ca(2+)]i homeostasis and cardiac ion channels. On account of little information about some trace elements, we discussed the effect of vanadium, selenium, zinc and tungstate on diabetic heart complications.
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