Researchers from Australia and China have uncovered a new and potentially vital therapeutic role for folic acid in protecting the heart muscle from the onslaught of high glucose levels experienced by diabetics.

 

The team from Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia and China’s Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital and Taishan Medical College conducted experimental trials on diabetic rats and found that the use of folic acid can significantly reduce the rate of cardiac cell death.

 

“The study in a diabetic animal model showed that dietary folic acid supplementation for 11 weeks will substantially diminish the rate of cardiac cell death,” said Professor Lexin Wang from CSU. “The study also found that folic acid enhances the expression of cell-death-prevention genes and suppresses cell-death-inducing genes in heart muscles.” 

 

 “This study is the first of this kind in the world and such a therapeutic role of folic acid has never been reported,” said Professor Wang from the School of Biomedical Sciences in Wagga Wagga.

 

The study was recently published in the prestigious international journal, Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapy.

 

 “These are extremely exciting discoveries because for a very long time we did not have much of success in steering the heart away from the insult of high levels of blood glucose, in particular in the early stages of the cardiovascular disease process.

 

“Now with a short course of folic acid treatment, we see a clear cut reduction in the death rates of cardiac cells. More importantly, the biology of the surviving cardiac cells is also improved, making these cells and muscles more resistant to future injuries from diabetes.”

 

Diabetes is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Australia and internationally. In patients with diabetes, there is an increased risk of heart  failure largely due to the development of diabetic heart muscle disease or diabetic cardiomyopathy.

 

Up to a third of the cardiac cells can be destroyed or damaged as a result of high blood glucose levels experienced by diabetics.

 

“Therefore the development of new preventative strategies for cardiac muscle injuries in diabetics is extremely important in terms of reducing the overall cardiac complications and improving the clinical outcomes for patients,” said Professor Wang. 

 

Can this novel research be translated to bedside patient care?

 

“Only time will tell. Given the sheer scale of diabetes as a preventable disease in all societies, in particular in fast growing countries like China and India, I think a large clinical trial on the clinical efficacy of folic acid is warranted,” said Professor Wang.  

 

“We may just end up with a big winner.”

 

 Professor Wang lectures in the University’s School of Biomedical Sciences based in Wagga Wagga and is head of CSU’s multi-campus Cardiovascular Research Group.