Streptozotocin-induced non-insulin-dependent diabetes protects the heart from infarction.

Background: The vulnerability of the myocardium of a diabetic animal to an ischemic insult is controversial. To address this issue, streptozotocin-induced non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDD) was induced in rats, and the effects of regional myocardial ischemia were assessed by measuring infarct size.

Results: Open-chest rats with NIDD and age-matched control rats underwent 30 or 45 minutes of regional ischemia and 2-hour reperfusion. Infarct size was measured by tetrazolium. Control rats had 32.0 +/- 3.3% infarction of the risk zone after a 30-minute coronary occlusion, whereas NIDD rats had significantly smaller infarcts (11.5 +/- 3.1% of the risk area, P < .005). When ischemic time was extended to 45 minutes, infarct size in control animals averaged 57.9 +/- 6.2%, whereas only 37.3 +/- 5.6% of ischemic myocardium was infarcted in NIDD rats (P < .05). In a subset NIDD group, rats experienced a period of ischemic preconditioning (three cycles of 5-minute ischemia/5-minute reperfusion) before 45-minute ischemia. Infarct size in these rats averaged only 6.9 +/- 3.0% (P < .01 vs nonpreconditioned NIDD rats with 45-minute coronary occlusions). Collateral flow was measured in NIDD rat hearts with radioactive microspheres. Collateral flow was < 1% of normal myocardial blood flow.

Conclusions: We conclude that NIDD protects the heart from infarction and that this protection is not related to the development of coronary collaterals. Furthermore, preconditioning can further protect the NIDD heart.