Diabetic cardiomyopathy: sex-specific aspects of functional, structural and molecular remodelling

Abstract

Background: Clinical studies have revealed increased cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients, which is substantially elevated in women. Perplexingly, while there has been extensive experimental effort in characterising cardiac dysfunction in the progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy, studies investigating sex differences are limited. A mechanistic understanding of sexual dimorphism in diabetic cardiomyopathy remains to be achieved. Aim: The aim of this Thesis was to examine female susceptibility to cardiac pathology in type 1 diabetes (T1D). In particular, this thesis focussed on examining cardiac responses to diabetes (functional and molecular) under basal conditions, during ischemia an..