Lastly, our findings in diabetic rats contrast with the lowered expression of CTR2 in the hearts of rats with diet-induced systemic copper-deficiency [71]: this contrast points to a distinct pathogenic mechanism in the regulation of copper uptake in the LV myocardium of the diabetic rat in the context of the overall systemic copper overload that occurs in diabetes [8,45]. Here, SLC31A2 is linked to diabetes mellitus.