Effects of comorbid type II diabetes mellitus and heart failure on rat hindlimb and respiratory muscle blood flow during treadmill exercise

Abstract

Herein, we demonstrate that rats comorbid with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF-rEF) and type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have a higher hindlimb and respiratory muscle blood flow during submaximal treadmill running (20 m·min−1; 10% incline) compared with nondiabetic HF-rEF counterparts. These data may carry important clinical implications for roughly half of all patients with HF-rEF who present with T2DM.