MICU1 Alleviates Diabetic Cardiomyopathy Through Mitochondrial Ca-Dependent Antioxidant Response.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a major cause of mortality in patients with diabetes, but specific strategies for preventing or treating diabetic cardiomyopathy have not been clarified yet. MICU1 is a key regulator of mitochondrial Ca uptake, which plays important roles in regulating mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and redox balance. To date, however, the significance of MICU1 in diabetic hearts has not been investigated. Here, we demonstrate that MICU1 was downregulated in mouse hearts, which contributes to myocardial apoptosis in diabetes. Importantly, the reconstitution of MICU1 in diabetic hearts significantly inhibited the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy, as evidenced by enhanced cardiac function and reduced cardiac hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis in mice. Moreover, our in vitro data show that the reconstitution of MICU1 inhibited the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, induced by high glucose and high fat, through increasing mitochondrial Ca uptake and subsequently activating the antioxidant system. Finally, our results indicate that hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia induced the downregulation of MICU1 by inhibiting Sp1 expression in diabetic cardiomyocytes. Collectively, our findings provide the first direct evidence that upregulated MICU1 preserves cardiac function in diabetic mice, suggesting that increasing the expression or activity of MICU1 may be a pharmacological approach to ameliorate cardiomyopathy in diabetes.