The Dynamic Characteristics of Myocardial Contractility and Extracellular Volume in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Mice Investigated by 7.0T Cardiac Magnetic Resonance

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with a high prevalence of diastolic dysfunction and congestive heart failure. A potential contributing factor is the accelerated accumulation of diffuse myocardial fibrosis and stiffness. Novel cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging techniques can identify both myocardial fibrosis and contractility quantitatively. This study aimed to investigate the dynamic characteristics of the myocardial strain and altered extracellular volume (ECV) fraction as determined by 7.0 T CMR in T2DM mice. C57Bl/6J mice were randomly divided into T2DM (fed a high-fat diet) and control (fed a normal diet) groups. They were scanned on 7.0 T MRI every 4 weeks until the end of week 24. The CMR protocol included multi-slice cine imaging to assess left ventricle strain and strain rate, and pre- and post-contrast T1 mapping images to quantify ECV. The ECV in the T2DM mice was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that in the control group since week 12 with significantly impaired myocardial strain (p < 0.05). A significant linear correlation was established between myocardial strain and ECV (p < 0.001) and left ventricular-ejection fraction and ECV (p = 0.003). The results suggested that CMR feature tracking-derived myocardial strain analysis can assess functional abnormalities that may be associated with ECM alterations in diabetic cardiomyopathy, contributing to the study of diabetic therapy effects.