Taurine may prevent diabetic rats from developing cardiomyopathy also by downregulating angiotensin II type2 receptor expression.

Objective: In diabetes, intracellular accumulation of sorbitol resulting from the high extracellular levels of glucose leads to depletion of intracellular compounds including taurine. This is associated with the development of late diabetic complications such as cardiomyopathy. The development of myocyte hypertrophy has been largely attributed to angiotensin II, whose growth properties are antagonized by taurine. However, the interaction between taurine, angiotensin II type2 receptor (AT2) and cardiomyopathy related to angiotensin II is still unknown. This study investigates the roles of taurine and AT2 in rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic cardiomyopathy.