Icariin Attenuates Diabetic Cardiomyopathy and Downregulates Extracellular Matrix Proteins in Heart Tissue of Type 2 Diabetic Rats.

OBJECTIVE

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a serious complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), resulting in unfavorable prognosis. Icariin (ICA) is a major flavonoid isolated from the traditional oriental herbal medicine Epimedium that has been recently proved to show potential therapeutic efficacy on T2DM. The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanism of how ICA improved DCM in rat models.

METHODS

To corroborate myocardial improvement by ICA, we managed to establish the T2DM rat model by streptozotocin (STZ) administration and high-glucose-high-fat diet.

RESULTS

The rats with T2DM showed severe insulin resistance, left ventricular dysfunction, aberrant lipids deposition, cardiac inflammation, and fibrosis compared with the control group. All these pathological symptoms were ameliorated by the treatment of ICA. The levels of extracellular matrix proteins of heart tissue significantly declined in ICA-treated rats.

CONCLUSION

ICA may exert as a protector in T2DM-induced DCM by reducing extracellular matrix proteins in the heart tissue, implicating its potential role for the treatment of human DCM.