DIABETIC cardiomyopathy may be alleviated by L-tartaric acid, according to new pre-clinical findings.
Researchers investigated the effects of L-tartaric acid in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice, a commonly used model of diabetic cardiomyopathy.
Following diabetes induction, animals received oral L-tartaric acid at doses of 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg daily for 16 weeks.
Cardiac function and a range of molecular markers associated with disease progression were subsequently evaluated.
L-tartaric Acid Linked to Improved Cardiac Performance
The diabetic control group demonstrated substantial metabolic and cardiac abnormalities, including elevated blood glucose, triglyceride, and cholesterol levels, together with impaired ventricular function.
Echocardiographic assessment revealed increased left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic diameters and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening.
Treatment with L-tartaric acid was associated with improvements in these parameters.
The higher 100 mg/kg dose produced the greatest effect, with significant reductions in ventricular diameters and improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening, suggesting partial restoration of cardiac performance.
Metabolic measures also improved in treated animals, particularly in the higher dose group.
Reduced Inflammation and Apoptosis
Researchers observed that L-tartaric acid treatment reduced three key elevated inflammatory markers in the treated mice, with larger reductions observed at the 100 mg/kg dose.
The therapy was also associated with lower expression of proapoptotic markers and increased expression of antiapoptotic markers.
These molecular changes were accompanied by evidence of reduced cardiac apoptosis, a process implicated in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy.
Analysis of cardiac tissue showed that diabetes reduced expression of autophagy related markers.
L-tartaric acid increased expression of these markers, with statistically significant effects observed at the higher dose.
Although the researchers noted that causal relationships between these pathways remain unconfirmed, the findings suggest that L-tartaric acid may have therapeutic potential in diabetic cardiomyopathy and warrant further investigation to clarify mechanisms and evaluate clinical relevance.
Reference
Chen W et al. l-Tartaric acid mitigates diabetic cardiac damage and is associated with changes in autophagy, apoptosis, and inflammatory markers. Sci Rep. 2026;DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-58125-6
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