question: What is the role of AMPK in diabetic cardiomyopathy?
answer: AMPK activation protects cardiac structure and function by increasing cardiac autophagy in the diabetic heart.  Decreased AMPK activity and the subsequent reduction in cardiac autophagy are central to the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy.  In fact, dissociation of Bcl-2 from Beclin1 may be an important mechanism for preventing diabetic cardiomyopathy via AMPK activation that restores autophagy and protects against cardiac apoptosis. In addition, genetic inhibition of AMPK in cardiomyocytes attenuates cardiac autophagy, exacerbates cardiac dysfunction and increases mortality in diabetic mice. The modulation of AT-1R/AMPK-MAPK pathway might play crucial roles for the pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy and it could become an important therapeutic target to ameliorate the diabetic cardiomyopathy. Stimulation of AMPK by metformin or trimetazidine administration may represent a novel approach to treat diabetic cardiomyopathy.