er into diabetic hearts reverses the associated hypertrophy. Compared to controls, the DM rats showed severe left ventricular diastolic and systolic dysfunction. The maximal rate of LV pressure rise and LV pressure fall were significantly decreased in DM group. This observed cardiac dysfunction is likely due to decreased levels of SECRA2a expression since SERCA2a gene transfer into DM hearts dramatically reversed these parameters . In addition, SERCA2a transduction significantly improved the time course of relaxation compared to DM hearts . These data indicate that SERCA2a gene transfer into DM hearts considerably improved myocardial performance. Of note, these SERCA2a-mediated improvements were not the result of viral infection since control virus did not affect in vivo cardiac function. Microarray data analysis We used Agilent’s 60-mer oligonucleotide two-color dye assay and quantitative real-time PCR to identify differentially expressed genes in type 2 diabetic failing hearts and their phenotypic rescue 
by SERCA2a restoration. Raw data output was imported into Genespring GX7.3 and normalized by setting values below 0.01 to 0.01, normalizing each chip to the 50th percentile of all measurements in that sample, and normalizing each gene to the median measurement for that gene across all samples. To focus on genes with reliable changes in expression, we filtered the normalized data for signal intensity with a ratio of $2 for up regulation and a ratio of #0.5 for downregulation. We compared the microarray datasets among the various groups: DM; DM+SERCA2a and DM+b-Gal. The diabetic subjects were compared with control subjects. Ad.bGal was used as a viral control vehicle and its effect removed from that of Ad.SERCA2a to extract SERCA2a specifically-regulated 10401570 genes. The results 1417812 reveal a significant divergence in gene expression among the DM and the two adenoviral treatments, with a total of 2078 transcripts being differentially expressed. The data from the 3 comparisons revealed few commonly regulated genes. Of particular interest to our laboratory is the set of 76 genes that were coregulated by both DM and SERCA2a overexpression. This will help us explore the nature of genes that are affected by diabetes, and their nature following phenotypic rescue by SERCA2a restoration. Protein synthesis rate measurements Protein synthesis rates in neonatal cardiomyocytes were determined using -Leucine incorporation as described previously. -Leucine incorporation was measured by scintillation counting. Leucine uptakes were measured by stimulating the myocytes with Ad.SERCA2a or Ad.b-gal in the presence or absence of endothelin-1. Statistical analysis All values were calculated as mean6SD. Data were compared by 3544-24-9 web two-tailed Student’s t test. The null hypothesis was rejected for P,0.05. Results Characterization of animals and ventricular function The Otsuka LongEvans Tokushima Fatty rat is an established model of congenital Diabetes Mellitus which shows left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and slowing of isovolumic LV relaxation rate associated with abnormal calcium handling and depressed SERCA2a protein expression. The development of diabetes was confirmed by a marked increase in blood glucose levels in all DM rats, measured after 56 hours of fasting, compared to non-DM control animals. The body Diabetes-induced transcriptional profile Of the more than 20,000 genes represented on the array, 838 transcripts were differentially expressed between control and
