Diabetes Mellitus–Induced Microvascular Destabilization in the Myocardium

“It will be a while before this kind of therapy can be used in humans. But we were able to show for the first time in a transgenic large animal model, which closely models human type I diabetes mellitus, how diabetes damages the heart. That opens up new perspectives for treating patients. It also further reinforces our awareness of how important it is to diagnose diabetes early.”

“These cells normally form a layer wrapped around the small blood vessels. We believe that this layer has a stabilizing function. When it is damaged, the entire blood vessel becomes unstable and ultimately breaks up.”