Fig. 2

Characterization of a diabetic cardiomyopathy rat model. Rats were fed either a normal or HFD for 8 weeks and DCM rats were injected intraperitoneally with STZ (25 mg/kg). After that, all rats fed a normal chow diet (NCD). Echocardiography was performed on the rats 4 weeks after STZ injection (a). Body weight (b), fasting blood glucose (c), and fasting serum insulin (d) were assessed at baseline, 8 weeks and 12 weeks, and the insulin sensitivity index (e) was calculated by 1/FBG*FINS. Blood total cholesterol (f) and blood triglycerides (g) were also analyzed to further characterize the lipid metabolism. n = 3 per group in the echocardiogram detection, n = 5–10 per group in the body weight and blood detection, * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01 vs. normal group