Cardiac myosin isoenzyme shifts in non-insulin treated spontaneously diabetic rats.

We evaluated myocardial myosin isoform distribution in a group of diabetic BB/W rats from which insulin was withheld for varying periods in order to evaluate the time course and extent of myosin isoform shifts in these animals. Prior studies of myosin isoform distribution in diabetic rats have utilized chemically induced diabetic rats or insulin-treated BB/W rats. Following a stabilization period on insulin therapy, insulin was withheld for 9-28 days during which the animals received supplemental parenteral bicarbonate and Ringer's lactate. Left ventricular myocardial myosin isoform distribution was determined by nondenaturing pyrophosphate gel electrophoresis. We found that the normal predominance of V1 isomyosin in these rats was shifted to V3 predominance by approximately two weeks after the cessation of insulin therapy. This was significantly sooner than was seen in another study which utilized insulin treated BB/W rats, and is similar to the time course seen with chemically induced diabetic rats. In addition, the normal V1 myosin isoform distribution observed during insulin therapy and the progressive shift to the V3 isoform distribution during increasing periods without insulin suggest that this shift can be prevented with insulin alone.