Mechanisms Responsible for Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle Energetic Impairment in Diabetes

Diabetes increases the risk of heart failure. This is mainly due to a disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle and/or high blood pressure, but abnormal metabolism may also contribute. We plan to study the mechanisms involved in this abnormal metabolism, whilst also assessing the effects of a drug called Perhexiline which improves the abnormal metabolism that is present in diabetic patients before the development of heart failure.