Echocardiographic characterization of fundamental mechanisms of abnormal diastolic filling in diabetic rats with a parameterized diastolic filling formalism

Abnormalities of diastolic function (DF) precede systolic dysfunction in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Transmitral Doppler flow analysis is the primary method for noninvasively assessing DF. We used model-based Doppler E-wave analysis to evaluate diastolic function differences between normal and diabetic rat hearts. Control rats and those with diabetes underwent echocardiography with analysis by traditional Doppler indexes and by the parameterized diastolic filling (PDF) formalism, generating 3 parameters, x₀, c, and k, that uniquely characterize each E-wave. Significant intergroup differences in the E/A ratios (P < .01), isovolumic relaxation times (P < .01), and the modeling parameter c (P < .05) were found. There were no significant differences in shortening fraction, deceleration time, myocardial collagen content, or the parameters x₀ and k between diabetic and control rats. These results indicate that differences in diastolic function may be noninvasively quantified and that diabetic hearts may exhibit defects in uncoupling of the contractile apparatus without concomitant increases in chamber stiffness.